THE  'TWO 


LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN/ 


BY 

.     H.     BABCOCK. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY. 
1890. 


Copyright,  1890,  by  WM.  H.  BABCOCK. 


77 


PREFACE. 


THIS  little  book  is  the  outgrowth  of  an  earnest  en- 
deavor to  see  clearly  in  my  own  mind,  and  for  my  own 
purposes,  a  part  of  the  life  of  sixth  century  Britain. 
Almost  at  the  beginning,  I  found  that  this  implied 
much  more,  every  decade  hanging  to  the  next  like  the 
links  of  a  chain.  Authority  suggested  authority ;  one 
problem  tempted  the  inquirer  to  another.  My  mass  of 
notes  grew  bulky,  even  portentous.  The  natural  out- 
let was  by  a  careful  consecutive  statement,  necessarily 
for  the  most  part  in  narrative  form  and  covering  all 
that  was  really  germane  to  the  purpose  in  hand. 

This  proved  an  arduous  undertaking,  though  not 
without  a  charm.  Working  in  such  materials,  one 
could  not  but  find  it  so.  And  now  that  it  is  ended,  I 
am  encouraged  to  think  that  it  may  serve  the  turn  of 
others  besides  myself;  and  even  entertain  those  who 
have  no  special  object  in  view  besides  enjoyment.  At 
the  worst,  one  may  look  for  sympathetic  readers  among 
the  multitude  who  have  delved  in  the  same  mine ;  alas  ! 
with  the  too  frequent  result  of  mutual  contradiction. 
I,  too,  have  contradicted  a  little,  as  in  duty  bound ;  but 
I  beg  not  to  be  regarded  as  doing  so  out  of  incurable 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

perversity.     One  would  wish  to  stand  well  with  his 
most  reliable  audience. 

There  are  those  who  will  not  concede  that  I  am 
writing  history,  because  I  admit  and  present  the  prob- 
able, which  is  not  provable  in  any  strict  sense.  This 
raises  the  question  of  what  history  means.  If  it  be  a 
setting  forth  of  the  past  as  the  past  verily  was,  then  the 
aid  of  inference  and  analogy  cannot  be  excluded.  A 
string  of  barren  facts,  with  nothing  to  correlate,  illus- 
trate, or  explain  them,  would  be  nearly  as  misleading 
as  the  wildest  fiction.  By  the  aid  of  a  reasonable  and 
regulated  imagination,  we  may  go  right ;  without  it,  we 
are  certain  to  go  wrong.  A  grinning  skeleton  is  a  very 
demonstrable  residuum ;  but  what  idea  does  it  convey  of 
the  fair  young  girl  whose  beauty  was  built  up  thereon  ? 

The  foundation  of  every  work  like  this  must  neces- 
sarily be  the  same.  I  have  accepted  Gildas  on  the 
authority  of  Dr.  Guest  and  Mr.  Green,  making  con- 
scientiously the  most  of  him.  There  really  is  more 
than  would  be  supposed,  when  his  hints  are  examined 
thoughtfully  and  in  detail.  Nennius,  explained  by 
Mr.  Skene,  is  of  even  more  capital  importance.  With- 
out access  to  the  manuscripts,  I  have  necessarily  been 
guided  in  the  main  by  the  printed  editions  of  Dr.  Gunn, 
and  others,  as  I  find  them.  For  the  Chronicles,  I 
have  generally  preferred  Ethel  ward,  although  it  mat- 
ters little.  The  early  Welsh  poetry  of  Llywarch, 


PREFACE.  5 

Aneurin,  Taliessin,  Merddin,  and  lesser  bards  I  have 
used  freely  and  found  particularly  fruitful.  A  great 
mass  of  publications  like  the  Journal  of  the  Archae- 
ological Society,  the  Archaeological  Journal,  the  Ar- 
chseologia  Cambrensis,  the  Cambro-Britain,  and  the 
"  Proceedings  of  the  Archaeological  Institute"  have 
been  studied  volume  by  volume  and  reduced  to  more 
manageable  shape.  In  "  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth"  and 
in  "  Henry  of  Huntington,"  fancy  and  real  tradition  are 
interwoven,  the  difference  being  chiefly  of  degree.  Yet 
we  cannot  afford  to  discard  them  ;  nor  have  I  done  so. 

Among  modern  writings,  I  have  profited  most  by 
Mr.  Skene's  "  The  Four  Ancient  Books  of  Wales"  and 
"  Celtic  Scotland ;"  Professor  Pearson's  "  History  of  the 
Early  and  Middle  Ages  of  England ;"  Professor  Rhys's 
"  Celtic  Britain ;"  Dr.  Guest's  "  Origines  Celtica"  and 
scattered  papers ;  Mr.  Whittaker's  "  History  of  Man- 
chester ;"  Mr.  Stephens's  "  Literature  of  the  Cymry ;" 
Dr.  Freeman's  various  histories  and  addresses;  Mr. 
Wright's  "  The  Celt,  the  Roman,  and  the  Saxon  ;"  Mr. 
Coode's  "  The  Romans  in  Britain ;"  and  Mr.  Green's 
"  The  Making  of  England." 

One  may  add  to  these  a  long  list  of  works  consulted 
or  studied  separately  or  comparatively,  partly  or  wholly, 
once  only  or  repeatedly,  as  their  relative  importance  to 
the  end  in  view  would  seem  to  dictate :  "  The  Mabino- 
gion"  of  Lady  Guest;  Professor  Boyd  Dawkins's 


6  PREFACE. 

"Cave-Hunting;"  Mr.  Stuart-Glennie's  "Arthurian 
"  Localities"  and  "Merlin;"  Wash's  "Taliessin;" 
Williams's  "Barddas"  and  "the  Tola  MSS.;"  Lottie's 
"  History  of  London ;"  Poste's  "  Britannia  Antiqua ;" 
Morant's  "History  of  Essex;"  Earle's  "Two  Old 
English  Chronicles ;"  Allen's  "  History  of  London ;" 
Mrs.  Boger's  "  Myths,  Scenes,  and  Worthies  of  Som- 
erset ;"  "  The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica ;"  La  Ville- 
marque's  "Chants  de  la  Bretagne;"  Sharon  Turner's 
"  History  of  the  Saxons ;"  Akerman's  "  Remains  of 
Pagan  Saxondom  ;"  Grant  Allen's  "  Anglo-Saxon  Brit- 
ain ;"  "  Eoman  Britain,"  of  the  same  series ;  Thorpe's 
"Codex  Exoniensis;"  " Florence  of  Worcester ;"  Dr. 
Guest's  "History  of  English  Metres;"  Dr.  Child's 
first  six  volumes  of  "English  Ballads;"  Taylor's 
"Ballads  and  Songs  of  Brittany;"  certain  notable 
papers  of  Symonds  and  W.  Basil  Jones;  Malory's 
"  History  of  King  Arthur ;"  Gibbon ;  Mommsen ; 
Sammes's  "Antiquities  of  Britain;"  Branston  and 
Le  Roy's  "  History  of  Winchester ;"  Akerman's  "  Nu- 
mismatic Manual,"  with  others  like  it,  and  the  cur- 
rent reviews  and  magazines,  both  archaeological  and 
popular,  which  have  contained  many  articles  bearing 
on  various  branches  of  my  subject. 

This  is  by  no  means  an  exhaustive  enumeration,  un- 
less in  the  sense  of  exhausting  the  reader  on  the  thresh- 
old. For  fear  of  such  result  I  will  say  no  more. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I. — THE  PREPARATION  FOR  THEM 9 

II. — FROM  THE  FIRST  COMING  OF  THE  SAXON  TO  THE 

PASSING  OF  EOME 29 

III. — FROM  CUNEDDA  TO  YORTIGERN 46 

IY. — THE  DATS  OF  KOWENA 70 

Y. — THE  PRINCE  OF  THE  SANCTUARY 95 

VI. — THE  CONQUEST  OF  SUSSEX 115 

VII. — THE  FALL  OF  AMBROSE 121 

VIII. — ARTHUR — WHO  AND  WHERE  ? 132 

IX.— THE  WARS  OF  ARTHUR — IN  THEORY. 142 

X. — THE  WARS  OF  ARTHUR — AS  THEY  WERE  ....    161 

XI.— THE  EMPIRE  OF  ARTHUR 178 

XII. — FROM  THE  FALL  OF  ARTHUR  TO  THE  CONQUEST 

OF  THE  SEYERN 202 

XIII. — THE  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  WEST 216 


THE    TWO 

LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   PREPARATION   FOR   THEM. 

ALMOST  every  people  has  had  its  beginning  in  pre- 
historic chaos ;  but  one  only,  in  Europe  at  least,  ever 
sank  back  for  a  season  out  of  the  daylight  into  the 
abyss.  There  is  no  parallel  to  the  long  submergence 
of  Britain  following  the  withdrawal  of  Rome :  a  dis- 
ordered darkness  brooding  over  the  rise  of  new  island 
powers  and  the  flickering  away  of  old  broken  splendor  ! 
For  long  another  "  world "  in  the  western  sea  dimly 
reported ;  then  through  four  centuries  a  land  of  open 
travel  and  continued  record,  an  integral  member  of 
the  superb  Roman  organism  ;  and  then  again  suddenly 
relegated  to  the  myths  and  the  shades,  a  haunt  of  spec- 
tral ferrymen  and  their  dead  passengers,  a  doubtful  and 
ghostly  hoverer  on  the  frontier  of  knowledge !  Yet 
to  this  third  era  belonged  Hengist  and  Vortigern ;  the 
saint  of  the  Hallelujah  field,  the  beguiling  Rowena ; 

9 


10       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Vortimer,  redoubtable  in  life  and  death;  Ambrose, 
Prince  of  the  Sanctuary ;  Geraint,  the  hero  of  Enid  and 
of  Llongborth ;  Arthur  triumphing  on  Mount  Baden  ; 
Kyndylan  of  the  Powys  purple,  defending  in  vain  the 
shining  city  Uricon, — "the  white  town,  the  wasted 
town,  the  town  of  flame !"  No  wonder  that  the  fancy 
of  mankind,  from  Mark  the  Anchorite  to  Alfred  Tenny- 
son, has  lingered  in  that  dreamland  of  enchantment ! 

Even  the  gravest  researchers  have  yielded  to  the 
spell  and  gone  knight-erranting  as  on  no  other  field. 
To  follow  their  wild  excursions,  to  witness  their  shock 
and  mutual  overthrow,  is  at  first  only  to  multiply 
bewilderment.  Hardly  one  fact  is  accorded  standing- 
room  by  all ;  hardly  one  assertion  has  escaped  emphatic 
denial.  We  are  not  to  know  in  peace  who  came  to 
Britain ;  or  when  or  why  they  came ;  whom  they  found 
there ;  or  what  they  did  with  these  predecessors.  We 
have  the  names  of  leaders,  but  every  one  is  under  in- 
dictment of  being  nobody  at  all,  or  somebody  else. 
We  have  list  after  list  of  battles ;  but  each  took  place 
in  several  counties,  or  at  various  periods,  or  in  the  land 
of  fable  only.  We  have  a  body  of  surviving  poetry, 
more  than  admirable  in  fragments  and  passages ;  but 
does  this  belong  partly  to  a  hundred  years  before,  or 
wholly  to  three  hundred  years  later?  It  is  indeed  ad- 
mitted on  all  hands  that  the  Roman  legions  went  away, 
for  you  positively  cannot  find  any  of  them  in  England 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       \\ 

now, — but  the  time  of  their  departure  is  shifted  about 
from  end  to  end  of  a  generation.  We  have  even  been 
warned  that  Britain  had  a  continental  namesake  or 
double  ganger  to  which — or  to  Bruttium — the  divorcing 
letter  of  Honorius  may  have  been  directed. 

Yet  let  us  be  sane  and  easy,  for  the  truth  will  come 
out  of  clamor.  We  have  good  warrant  of  experience 
to  expect  that  it  will  take  the  lines  of  old  authentic 
tradition  enlarged  and  corrected.  It  is  not  for  nothing 
that  mankind  has  its  memory.  Gibbon,  believing  in 
Arthur  for  Nennius's  sake,  is  near  the  final  outcome. 
But  we  desire  to  know  much  more  than  Gibbon,  or 
any  one  in  his  day,  could  tell. 

The  witchery  of  words  is  in  wait  at  the  heart  of  the 
confusion,  for  names  breed  pictures,  and  pictures  are 
not  as  adaptable  as  names,  however  the  facts  may  vary. 
Mr.  Coode's  Lloegrian,  for  example,  is  a  Teuton 
Romanized  in  feeling,  habit  and  (partly)  in  blood  ;  Mr. 
Pearson's  Lloegrian  is  a  Celt  imperfectly  tutored  by 
Home ;  Dr.  Guest's  Lloegrian  is  an  out-and-out  Anglo- 
Saxon,  hating  Rome  and  Celt  with  equal  fervor ;  and 
the  Lloegrian  of  other  writers  is  a  southern  Celt  with 
hardly  a  tatter  of  Rome  about  him,  who  would  not 
join  the  muster  and  revel  of  Cattraeth.  Now  every 
one  of  these  conceptions  is  true  for  some  period  or  some 
area :  the  Lloegrian  being  simply,  first  or  last,  a 
dweller  in  the  eastward  part  of  Britain. 


12       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Again,  the  Saxon  conquest  is,  in  Mr.  Coode's  concep- 
tion, very  little  more  than  the  comfortable  absorption  and 
education  of  barbarians  by  a  resident  mass  of  civilized 
people ;  to  Dr.  Guest  and  Dr.  Freeman  it  is  a  grim  and 
thorough  slaughter  for  more  than  a  hundred  years ;  to 
Mr.  Green  it  is  a  slow  beating  back,  with  few  of  the 
vanquished  left  within  the  victor's  lines  until  the 
Severn  Valley  was  gained ;  to  Archdeacon  Jones  it  is 
the  winning  of  the  low  grounds  only,  the  Celt  remain- 
ing in  the  uplands  even  to-day ;  to  Mr.  Wright  it  is  in 
the  west,  a  comparatively  harmless  overrunning  of  a 
region  already  devastated  by  the  Celts  of  Brittany; 
while  Mr.  Pearson  makes  it  partly  a  matter  of  bargain 
or  compromise,  partly  a  championship  of  the  cities 
against  the  unruly  country  people.  In  so  long  a  con- 
test there  must  have  been  instances  of  almost  every- 
thing. An  adequate  understanding  of  it  would  include 
the  above  and  much  more. 

In  deciphering  this  past  we  must  use  all  men's  spec- 
ulations for  what  they  are  worth.  We  must  bring  to 
bear  whatever  science  offers  us  of  method  and  of  glean- 
ings elsewhere.  We  must  trace  the  antecedents  of  these 
people  and  the  conditions  surrounding  them.  We 
must  compare  the  known  doings  of  other  men  in  other 
lands  and  times,  where  the  cases  are  most  nearly  paral- 
lel. We  must  consult  the  writings  of  men  then  living, 
as  far  as  they  go ;  the  greater  mass  of  oral  tradition 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       13 

first  put  into  writing  at  a  later  time  or  not  yet  written 
down  at  all ;  the  great  book  of  the  soil,  opening  very 
slowly,  year  by  year,  to  show  precisely  what  man  was 
and  man  made  use  of  then.  It  will  be  long  indeed 
before  any  one  will  come  equipped  for  such  a  life-work. 
Meanwhile,  we  may  lay  down  outlines  and  proffer  hints 
which  ought  to  have  some  value. 

The  time  has  gone  by  when  one  might  hold,  with 
Dr.  Guest,  that  the  first  man  in  Britain  was  a  Celt — 
some  few  thousand  years  ago.  There  were  Esquimaux 
in  the  land,  no  doubt,  and  savager,  perhaps  even  half 
human,  inhabitants  before  them.  All  such  may  have 
come  and  gone,  following  the  ice  northward  or  the  sun 
southward  and  leaving  an  empty  realm  behind.  The 
same  thing  has  happened  on  a  smaller  scale  in  other 
island  worlds.  There  are  some  which  have  been  settled 
within  sure  human  knowledge,  the  incomers  finding  no 
one  to  contest  their  sway.  There  are  others  which 
wait  even  yet  for  the  abiding  presence  of  man. 

But  Britain,  even  after  it  was  geologically  cut  loose 
from  the  mainland,  lay  too  near  for  this  to  be  likely. 
Tribe  would  mix  with  tribe  across  the  channel ;  shores- 
men, as  soon  as  they  could  float,  would  from  time  to 
time  be  driven  over,  or  tempted,  from  the  hollow  fen- 
land  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Elbe.  There  is  also  a 
shadowy  and  uncertain  kind  of  a  posteriori  evidence. 
Anthropometric  physiologists  believe  that  they  have 

2 


14       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

found  Mongolian  and  other  strange  elements  in  the 
outlines  and  measures  of  some  rural  Englishmen.  To 
be  sure,  these  may  be  no  more  than  inherited  Roman 
importations  from  the  far  east  and  far  south  of  that 
empire ;  or  even  the  contribution  of  Saxon  sea-kings, 
who  numbered,  as  Gibbon  thought,  a  few  adventurous 
Huns  among  their  crews.  Or  the  Ivernian  conquerors, 
to  borrow  the  good  word  of  Professor  Rhys,  may  have 
brought  these  qualities,  latent  by  inheritance,  in  their 
veins.  But,  on  the  whole,  it  is  perhaps  not  unlikely 
that  some  of  these  phenomena  are  the  earlier  human 
wave-marks  imperfectly  obliterated. 

From  this  author  we  may  cite  an  inference  concern- 
ing Jack  the  Giant-Killer  and  other  early  tales,  and 
push  it  a  little  farther  than  he  has  cared  to  go.  For 
the  dwarfs  and  the  gnomes  had  already  been  similarly 
explained,  and  the  Irish  peasant  knows  very  well  that 
"the  good  people"  are  those  who  dwelt  in  Ireland 
before  the  Irish  came.  Popular  fancy  is  less  creative 
than  decorative ;  and  when  it  gives  us  heterogeneity  as 
its  report  of  the  people  of  the  past,  we  may  accept 
heterogeneity  as  probably  true.  If  they  were  all  Iver- 
nians  together, — the  great  man-eaters,  the  squat  way- 
layers,  the  tricksy,  light-footed  little  people  of  the  fells, 
— they  can  hardly,  at  any  rate,  have  been  Ivernians  of 
similar  parentage  on  both  sides.  Where  they  differ  we 
may  find  the  dim  record  of  yet  earlier  conquests  by  the 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       15 

mighty  of  limb,  or  the  shrewd  and  malignantly  watch- 
ful, over  the  simple,  the  feeble,  and  the  fleeing.  Women 
have  ever  been  preserved  as  a  spoil  in  such  inroads, 
and  nature  sees  to  it  that  every  seemingly  lost  race 
shall  live  on  in  its  conqueror's  offspring.  When  one 
thinks  of  the  tangle  of  human  blood  woven  everywhere 
through  many  centuries,  it  is  not  to  wonder  that  certain 
anthropologists  (for  example,  Major  Powell)  deny  that 
mankind  are  classifiable  in  races,  or  definitely  in  any 
way  except  by  language  and  custom.  Almost  any  ex- 
treme is  better  than  to  conceive  of  the  Basque  or  Celt 
or  Saxon  as  always  fair-haired  or  always  dark-haired, 
with  equal  limitation  as  to  stature,  temperament,  and 
usage;  and  to  carry  the  same  unrelenting  method 
through  every  other  page  of  history. 

Still  we  may  be  warranted  in  supposing  that  most 
Ivernians,  when  the  Celts  overtook  them  in  Britain, 
were  a  darker  and  shorter  race ;  that  their  heads  were 
more  often  long  than  round ;  and  their  temperament 
(following  an  ingenious  suggestion  of  Professor  Rhys) 
imaginative  and  mirthful  beyond  that  of  their  in- 
vaders. But  in  looking  back  through  the  mist,  we 
hardly  see  them  at  all  before  they  vanish  from  or  in 
the  new  dominant  race.  Their  legacy  is  a  name  here 
and  there  clinging  to  island  or  river,  a  few  doubtful 
monuments,  of  which  Stonehenge  may  be  an  example, 
a  few  relics  from  the  caverns  or  from  beneath  the  sod, 


16       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

and  how  much  of  English  blood  and  English  life  in 
both  hemispheres,  we  can  never  know. 

Their  successors  are  nearer  to  us  every  way  and 
less  shadowy,  but  we  stumble  along  even  here.  In 
the  same  breath  we  are  told  that  the  Celt  was  a  tall, 
round-headed  blonde,  and  that  the  test  of  Celtic  blood 
in  a  nominally  Teutonic  people  is  the  frequency  of  the 
long  skull,  the  short  stature,  the  dark  hair  and  face. 
Yet  each  statement  is  true  in  its  way,  the  former  of 
the  typical  Celt,  the  Celt  as  he  began ;  the  latter  of 
the  Celt  as  his  own  conquests  had  made  him. 

For,  whether  his  starting-point  were  the  Central 
Asian  plateau  or  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  he  reached 
Britain  from  afar,  fighting  and  marrying  vi  et  armis 
through  many  intervening  lands.  Just  before  him 
fragments  of  the  Ivernians  and  other  early  folk  were 
driven ;  close  behind  him  the  Teutons  came  crowding. 
Now  and  again  they  overtook  and  intermingled,  or 
even  thrust  on  ahead.  So  in  an  overlapping  and  con- 
fused entanglement  of  waves,  each  with  its  own 
especial  compromise  of  aspect,  language,  and  blood, 
one  great  rush  of  invasion  came  pouring  across  from 
the  south,  another  (if  traditions  tell  us  truly)  from  the 
east  and  northeast  over  the  German  Ocean,  the  broad 
war-path  of  the  Saxon  and  Viking  in  later  days. 
And  as  Harold  had  to  fight  in  the  same  year  the 
Northman  and  the  Norman,  so  the  islander  before  all 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       17 

history  may  have  had  to  make  head  at  once  against 
this  swarming  of  taller,  fairer  folk  upon  the  two 
most  open  borders  of  his  realm.  In  that  contest  he 
could  not  win,  nor  was  any  escape  open  save  to  Ireland  ; 
and  even  there  they  followed  him  mightily.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  die  or  to  mingle ;  and  as  the 
Ivernian  had  darkened  down  to  the  folk  whom  he  had 
found  and  conquered,  the  Celt,  with  like  exceptions  and 
modifications,  began  darkening  down  to  him.  These 
foremost  Celts  may  have  been  Gaels,  as  some  have 
thought ;  or  both  Gaels  and  Cymry ;  or  people  of  an 
older  tongue,  which  became  differentiated  into  these 
languages  on  the  island  itself.  The  settlement  must  at 
any  rate  have  begun  in  remote  antiquity,  for  as  early  as 
the  time  of  Strabo  there  was  a  fairly  advanced  popula- 
tion along  the  coast,  with  differences  from  the  inland 
dwellers  implying  more  than  one  later  migration. 
Such,  no  doubt,  recurred  again  and  again,  until  the 
heavy  hand  of  Rome  was  laid  on  the  island,  forbid- 
ding all  change  except  what  came  with  her  will. 

But  she  let  in  the  light  also ;  and  by  this  and  later 
knowledge  we  are  able  to  map  out  the  land  after  a 
fashion.  Between  the  Thames  and  the  Channel  the 
most  notable  Caint  or  open  upland  of  Britain  was 
held  by  a  fairly  civilized  race  of  husbandmen ;  prob- 
ably Celts.  Opposite  the  Armorican  peninsula,  the 
second-best  crossing  of  the  Channel,  a  Belgic  invasion 
b  2* 


18       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

was  filling  Hampshire  with  Gauls,  whom  some  have 
styled  Germanic,  but  who  were  probably  more  so  in 
sentiment  and  imitation  than  in  blood.  The  Cateiu- 
chlani  of  Hertfordshire,  and  perhaps  also  the  Iceni 
of  Norfolk,  Boadicea's  redoubtable  tribe,  have  had 
the  same  repute  in  some  quarters,  it  may  be  on  account 
of  recent  half-Teuton  reinforcements  from  beyond 
the  sea.  The  eastern  folk  were  at  any  rate  a  people 
of  good  skill  in  peace  and  war,  of  some  wealth,  some 
traffic,  and  an  abundant  coinage.  The  Coritani  north 
of  them  had  won  in  Cymric  legend  the  name  of 
magicians ;  even  a  little  knowledge  and  a  foreign 
aspect  being  a  marvel  in  primitive  eyes.  A  race  of 
Scandinavian  type,  tall,  brawny,  red-haired  "Cale- 
donian" lovers  of  freedom,  held  the  lowlands  of 
Scotland,  testing  severely  the  ablest  general  and  the 
best  courage  of  Rome.  But  the  dark,  sturdy  Silures, 
no  doubt  largely  Ivernian  as  Tacitus  thought  them, 
were  even  more  indomitable  beyond  the  lower  Severn. 
Other  folk  of  this  latter  favor,  long  afterwards  known 
in  terror  as  Pechts  or  Picts,  predominated  throughout 
the  hill  country  of  the  far  north.  Yet  others,  in  the 
main  like  them,  roamed  the  north  Welsh  mountains, 
with  reflex  Irish  settlements  already  fringing  their 
coast ;  or  held  the  famous  mining  country  of  Damnonia, 
where  some  amelioration  of  manners  (and  of  race) 
might  be  laid  to  the  account  of  trading  voyagers  from 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       19 

the  Orient.  The  midland  folk  were  no  doubt  transi- 
tional, but  except  the  childish  imitations  of  the  York- 
shire Brigantes,  the  farthest  kingdom  which  undertook 
the  work  of  minting  coin,  we  have  little  to  mark  the 
fading  out  of  the  southeastward  culture. 

There  in  the  fertile  open  plateaux,  easy  of  foreign 
access,  easier  for  tillage  and  travel,  power,  as  well  as 
commerce  and  agriculture,  had  its  home.  As  with 
greater  communities,  the  centre  shifted,  now  this  petty 
realm,  now  that,  becoming  law-giver  in  its  turn,  until 
dominion  rested,  as  if  in  prophecy,  near  the  site  of 
London.  Before  his  long  eclipse,  the  Celt  shone  out 
at  his  very  best  in  the  noble  little  empire  of  Cyrnbel- 
line, — Cunebelline  the  golden,  the  friend  of  Augustus, 
the  darling  of  the  gods.  You  may  see  him  yet  in  fair 
relief  on  his  own  beautiful  gold-pieces,  borne  to 
victory  by  the  goddess  who  took  the  form  of  a  brute 
for  his  sake. 

Yet,  wide  as  was  the  interval  between  the  huge 
Caledonian  of  the  flaming  hair  and  the  dwarfish,  dark- 
browed  Silure,  between  the  illustrious  Cunebelline  and 
the  squat  savage  of  the  northern  waste,  they  were  all 
Celts  in  their  language  at  any  rate,  so  far  as  we  know. 
There  have  been  fancies  to  the  contrary,  such  as  that 
of  Mr.  Coode,  who  supposes  the  Anglo-Saxon  to  have 
found  his  language  awaiting  him  in  Britain ;  but 
these  remain  fancies  only.  The  greatest  divergence 


20       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

of  speech  was  probably  between  the  Gael  and  the 
Cymro;  each  of  these  two  main  stems,  according  to 
Mr.  Skene,  being  again  divided  into  two  groups  of 
dialects,  corresponding  to  the  more  familiar  High 
German  and  Low  German  clusters.  The  Gael  was 
strongest  in  the  far  north  and  along  the  western 
coast ;  but  almost  everywhere  else  yielded  to  his  rival. 
The  differences,  already  noted,  of  aspect  and  manners 
did  not  correspond  with  any  accuracy  to  these  differ- 
ences of  tongue.  All  considered,  our  variegated 
friend,  the  Ancient  Briton,  was  much  more  unlike 
himself  and  out  of  unanimity  than  popular  fancy 
pictures  him. 

Rome  fixed  those  uneasy  populations  in  their  seats ; 
added  to  their  volume  and  variety ;  drew  them  partly 
from  the  heights  into  the  valleys ;  gathered  the  quieter 
elements  into  cities ;  improved  communication,  opening 
many  roads  where  few  had  been ;  and  fostered  in  all 
things,  where  she  did  not  compel,  conformity  to  her 
own  higher  or  more  luxurious  standard.  So  zealously 
was  the  work  done,  that  long  after  her  departure  there 
yet  remained  the  glimmer  of  the  imperial  purple,  the 
shadow  of  legionary  discipline,  the  curse  of  Roman 
debauch.  These  were  everywhere,  unless  in  the 
woods  and  on  the  wilder  heaths  and  hills. 

The  Roman  occupancy  falls  readily  into  three 
periods, — the  first  brutality  of  conquest ;  the  long 


L 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       21 

peaceful  domination,  when  there  was  neither  war  or 
rumor  of  war,  unless  in  a  small  way  with  predatory 
mountain  tribes  on  the  far  border;  and  the  era  of 
decay,  when  incursions  became  frequent  and  disastrous, 
usurpers  abounded,  wrangling,  and  year  by  year  there 
grew  a  dread  upon  all  of  being  cut  off  alive  from  the 
living  mass  of  men.  We  remember  the  first  period 
by  the  extravagance  of  cruelty  which  it  employed  and 
provoked,  —  the  wrongs  of  Boadicea  and  her  kindred, 
the  massacre  of  London.  These  have  stirred  the 
blood  of  all  succeeding  generations,  and  will  stir  it  so 
long  as  human  sympathy  endures  ;  but  in  the  fact  that 
there  were  seventy  thousand  immigrants  to  be  over- 
whelmed by  that  blind  retribution,  besides  many  sur- 
vivors, we  may  more  profitably  study  the  great  change 
already  working  on  British  soil. 

But  this  was  the  merest  casual  eddy  of  the  in- 
coming flood.  •  The  legions  built  their  forts  and 
planted  their  garrisons,  and  settlements  grew  up  about 
them,  pushing  continually  farther  to  the  west  and  north, 
until  in  each  direction  a  line  of  half-military  cities  — 
Exeter,  Caerleon,  Wroxeter,  Chester,  or  Carlisle  and 
Durham  —  represented  very,  nearly  the  final  limit  of 
civilization. 

In  the  open  space  behind  them,  colonies  of  veterans 
were  planted  ;  merchants  and  mariners  of  many  coun- 
tries gathered  along  the  landing-places  and  narrow 


22       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

streets  of  the  growing  river  towns ;  and  moneyed  men 
from  the  Mediterranean,  the  Rhine,  or  the  Loire  took 
up  their  abode  on  the  lands  newly  bought  or  granted, 
building  low  colonnaded  dwellings  of  open  interior 
and  mighty  expansion,  the  like  of  which  have  never 
been  seen  in  England  since  their  day. 

Yet  the  South  European  has  not  given  up  this 
architectural  ideal  even  in  the  New  World.  Old 
Cuban  or  Mexican  memories  of  its  less  imposing  em- 
bodiments will  be  recalled  by  many  a  traveller.  No 
wonder  that  it  should  have  been  carried  unimpaired 
so  far  as  the  Scotch  lowlands  or  the  valleys  of  the 
Exe  and  the  Wye. 

Its  hollow  heart  is  sometimes  a  paved  court-yard, 
sometimes  a  flower-garden.  About  this  the  rooms  are 
built  casemate-fashion,  every  one  opening  inwardly 
upon  it  and  some  also  opening  outwardly,  with  iron- 
barred  windows  which  commonly  have  no  glass  in 
them.  One  story  is  the  usual  height  at  all  points, 
except  at  the  rear,  where  a  second  may  be  added. 
The  front  is  often  in  stucco,  painted  gaudily. 

Under  the  magic  of  Rome,  the  inner  walls  broke 
into  marble  columns  or  threw  out  long  pillared  por- 
ticoes for  the  frescoed  banquet-hall  or  the  tessellated 
bathing-apartments,  where  one  would  move  amid 
appliances  now  forgotten  and  over  rare  designs. 
Fountains,  shrines,  and  statuary,  all  were  multiplied. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       23 

In  the  later  days  Eastern  decoration  wound  profusely 
over  capital  and  cornice.  Walls  and  flooring  bloomed 
out  in  the  beauty  of  early  myth  and  childlike  fancy. 
Bathing  or  dreaming  or  dining,  the  Roman  had  ever 
around  him  the  divinely  familiar  figures, — Aphrodite 
the  foam-born ;  Bacchus  on  his  panther  steed  ;  Orpheus 
with  his  dumb  audience  enthralled  by  melody ;  Nar- 
cissus by  the  fountain ;  the  frolics  of  the  nymphs  and 
dryads ;  the  loves  of  Cupid  and  Psyche,  of  Jove  and 
Leda, — perennial  things  which  have  become  common- 
places without  losing  their  delightfulness. 

In  the  transfer  to  Britain,  some  few  changes  became 
necessary.  Of  course  the  heating  arrangements  grew 
more  numerous  and  ample,  though  following  old 
models  generally.  The  needs  of  new  settlers  com- 
pelled often  a  gradual  or  partial  approach  to  what  was 
desired.  For  material  they  commonly  used  what  was 
near  at  hand,  with  varying  results.  Occasionally  the 
founder  of  a  house  began  with  but  a  single  row  of 
rooms,  to  which  later  generations  added  wings  and  other 
outgrowths  when  successively  needed.  Often,  especially 
in  cities,  there  was  tearing  down  and  rebuilding  again 
and  again  on  or  over  the  same  foundations.  The 
suburban  villa  answered  fairly  to  what  we  know  by 
that  name ;  but  farther  away  the  dwelling  took  on  a 
more  complex  and  self-sufficing  character.  It  must  be 
the  centre  of  agricultural  operations  on  a  large  scale ; 


24       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

a  storehouse  ample  enough  to  defy  famine,  large 
enough  to  be  garrisoned  against  any  predatory  wood- 
land enemy.  It  must  even  be  something  of  a  manu- 
factory, something  of  a  provincial  capital.  These 
requirements  varied  in  importance  with  the  shifting 
of  circumstances  and  of  years.  In  the  underground 
traces  brought  continually  to  light,  we  find  their  suc- 
cession hinted,  and  the  expedients  whereby  such 
changes  were  met.  Even  the  religious  conversion 
under  Constantine,  though  it  cannot  have  been  at 
all  deep  or  thorough,  has  left  some  slight  rural  ves- 
tiges, if  we  understand  them  rightly,  in  the  shrine 
of  the  nymph  degraded  to  lucrative  uses,  her  statue 
buried  in  debris  where  it  lay  overthrown.  But  what- 
ever the  details  of  their  history,  the  greatest  of  these 
Roman-British  homes,  when  at  their  best,  were  un- 
doubtedly vast  and  imposing  structures;  little  less 
than  towns  for  area  and  population,  or  than  palaces 
for  the  splendor  of  their  appointments. 

The  cities  were  in  some  instances,  perhaps  generally, 
provided  with  the  central  forum  of  their  Italian  pro- 
totype, the  narrow  streets  in  part  converging  thereon, 
the  public  baths,  the  wide  and  lofty  basilica.  In  this 
last  were  the  merchants'  exchange,  the  committee- 
rooms,  the  administrative  offices,  the  great  court-room, 
or  hall  of  audience,  with  its  double  array  of  Corin- 
thian pillars  above  and  below  the  gallery.  Verulam, 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       25 

whither  the  wealth  of  London  may  have  largely 
resorted,  was  the  possessor  of  a  theatre  and  amphi- 
theatre worthy  of  the  parent  land.  The  temple  of 
Hercules  at  Calleva,  the  temple  of  the  sun  at  Aquse 
Solis,  were  edifices  to  make  the  burghers  who  dwelt 
about  them  dilate  with  pride. 

Yet  at  a  bird's-eye  view  the  British  cities  must  have 
differed  greatly,  for  a  reason  already  given.  Thus,  in 
London  architecture  brick  predominated,  while  the 
houses  of  some  other  towns  were  as  often  of  wood 
only,  and  Uriconium  shone  out  of  the  western  wood- 
land in  a  garment  of  white  stone  and  a  head-dress 
glittering  with  mica. 

For  defence  they  were  equipped  very  unequally. 
London  grew  up  around  a  fortress,  and  was  walled 
again  on  a  much  more  extensive  plan  when  danger 
drew  near  in  the  decline  of  Roman  power.  Calleva 
(Silchester)  and  Uriconium  (Wroxeter)  were  probably 
not  enclosed  until  a  still  later  time.  The  circumval- 
lation  of  Deva  (Chester),  Camulodunum  (Colchester), 
and  Anderida  (Pevensey)  may  have  been  ample  from 
first  to  last.  Verulam  remained  quite  open  until  her 
final  overthrow. 

But  the  Roman  civilization  of  Britain  was  partial  in 
area,  thin  and  weak  in  personal  influence,  inferior 
nearly  everywhere  to  the  best  of  Gaul,  and  attended 
always  by  its  shadow.  Not  only  did  all  the  mountain 


26       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

land  remain  wilfully  or  hatefully  outside  of  it,  but 
there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  it  made  more  than 
the  barest  lodgment  in  the  rugged  forests  of  the  water- 
sheds, whether  midland  or  well  down  towards  the  eastern 
and  southern  coasts.  It  followed  the  valleys  upward, 
it  spread  fan-like  over  the  open  uplands,  it  busied  itself 
about  the  marshes  and  estuaries  near  the  sea,  it  fringed 
the  great  wall  and  the  watchful  skirts  of  the  south- 
western garrisons,  it  left  isles  of  uncertain  light  along 
the  Eoman  and  pre-Roman  highways.  But  where  the 
wild  ox  and  the  wild  boar  harbored,  the  refractory 
Briton  who  had  no  Latin  nor  aptitude  for  Latinization 
well  might  harbor  too.  Others  of  his  kindred,  less 
exacting  or  defiant,  became  the  servile  dependants  of 
the  conqueror,  as  they  did  again  long  afterwards  when 
the  Saxons  came.  Across  the  Wallbrook,  within  a 
stone's  throw  of  the  great  fortress  and  the  wealthy 
merchants'  houses,  lay  the  unhappy  London  of  the 
Celt.  Beside  the  splendor  of  Uriconium  was  ever  a 
native  Wrekin  city  tattered  and  wan. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  use  of  the  Roman  tongue 
became  all  but  universal.  It  has  also  been  said  that 
this  use  answered  only  to  that  of  English  in  India. 
But  the  former  is  not  possible,  or  the  results  would 
differ ;  and  the  latter  is  not  possible,  because  of  the 
relatively  great  number  of  the  intruders  and  rulers.  In 
the  cleared  country  it  is  likely  that  Latin  was  almost 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       27 

universally  understood,  and  commonly  spoken  after 
a  fashion,  although  the  more  conservative  elements 
might  ignore  it  among  themselves.  In  the  rougher 
parts  of  the  country — such  as  the  ridges  running 
northward  and  westward  from  near  London,  and  the 
forests  of  Wyre  and  Arden  and  Sherwood,  of  Engle- 
wood  and  Selkirk — the  knowledge  would  be  confined 
to  a  very  few  besides  the  interpreters  and  the  more 
friendly  or  imitative  chiefs.  There  never  was  any 
Latin  literature  worth  naming  produced  in  Britain; 
and  although  in  course  of  time  a  British  poetry — very 
pathetic  and  very  stirring — did  come  into  being  amid 
Roman  wrecks  and  ruins,  it  was  neither  sung  nor  writ- 
ten in  Latin,  except  a  scrap  or  two  here  and  there,  and 
shows  no  more  trace  of  Roman  methods  and  qualities 
than  if  Virgil  and  Lucretius  had  never  been. 

This  being  the  state  of  affairs,  we  can  see  that  there 
would  always  be  a  Roman  party  and  a  British  party  in 
the  land;  the  former  long  dominant,  and  associated, 
both  by  the  facts  and  their  own  continual  advertisement, 
with  every  kind  of  obvious  improvement,  such  as  we 
now  term  progress ;  the  latter  sullen  and  self-doubting 
in  prosperous  times,  but  gathering  confidence  with  the 
falling  away  of  Roman  vigor,  and  exalting  mere  rude- 
ness in  the  scorn  of  effeminate  indulgence.  Long  be- 
fore the  end,  it  was  said  that  there  were  cities  in  Britain 
where  any  one  might  be  sure  of  a  following  who  would 


28       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

make  head  on  any  pretext  against  the  central  power  at 
Rome.  Of  the  thirty  provincial  tyrants,  in  the  old 
meaning  of  the  word,  who  at  one  period  disturbed  the 
world-mistress,  not  less  than  seven  or  eight,  including 
the  two  Tetricse,  have  been  attributed  to  Britain. 
Carausius,  in  seceding  from  the  body  of  the  empire, 
made  the  revolt  for  the  first  time  national.  Guarded 
by  its  moving  fleets  and  the  blue  ring  of  sea,  the  island 
is  said  to  have  enjoyed  a  prophetic  peace  and  felicity, 
all  its  own,  during  his  seven  years'  sway. 


CHAPTER    II. 

FEOM    THE    PIEST    COMING   OF    THE    SAXON    TO    TI&2 
PASSING   OF   ROME. 

IN  another  aspect,  the  episode  of  Carausius  is  epochal 
and  significant.  His  opportunity  came  of  a  command 
and  a  power  to  punish  piracy  and  piratical  inroads. 
There  had  always,  within  historical  limits,  been  navies 
of  a  sort  in  the  narrow  seas.  The  Veneti,  afloat,  were 
able  to  meet  Caesar  mightily  and  task  him  well.  But 
now  a  new  and  more  formidable  race  of  fighting-men 
were  taking  en  masse  to  the  water.  Partly  Teutonic, 
partly  what  we  call  Scandinavian,  mingling  in  every 
degree,  they  put  out  from  the  whole  curve  of  Frisian 
coast  and  from  beyond  its  limits  on  either  side.  It  was 
indeed  the  most  natural  thing  for  them  to  do.  As  they 
had  driven  the  Celt  quite  over  the  border  of  the  conti- 
nent, so  now  a  like  impulsion — from  the  unknown  East 
— was  on  them  and  their  kindred.  A  people  of  strange 
aspect,  hardly  indeed  of  this  wrorld  as  rumor  reported, 
was  threatening  to  make  the  German  of  the  mainland 
a  being  of  the  past.  All  the  nations  were  in  move- 
ment. Some,  leaguing  with  the  emperor,  made  a  barely 
sufficient  battle.  Others  adopted  the  easier  expedient 
of  falling  on  the  ill-defended  provinces  themselves. 

3*  29 


30       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

A  chance  exploit  showed  them  how  vulnerable  was 
the  empire  on  every  seaward  frontier.  Escaping  from 
the  Euxine  in  the  very  ships  that  had  transported  them, 
a  body  of  marauding  Franks  lived  at  free  quarters 
wherever  it  pleased  them  to  land  between  Sicily  and 
the  Channel  coast,  finally  returning  home  freighted 
with  tales  of  adventure  and  abundant  booty.  All  their 
tribal  brotherhood  were  dazzled  and  stirred.  The  con- 
tagion spread  northward,  with  no  lessening.  The  Saxon, 
better  prepared  for  the  new  rdle,  seized  on  it  even 
more  eagerly  and  continued  in  it  longer.  Already  he 
was  by  nature,  and  perhaps  by  name  (it  is  Dr.  Guest's 
conjecture),  the  Engle  who  loved  the  sea.  All  the 
northern  waters  were  alive  with  those  vikings.  Wel- 
coming whoever  would  come, — Norwegian,  Frisian, 
Dane,  Westphalian,  or  Easterling, — they  spread  sail  and 
sped  oar  for  the  harrying  of  the  British  coast.  Their 
war  was  the  war  of  the  red  savage  when  least  human- 
kindly  : — the  villages  in  flames,  the  tenth  prisoner 
tortured  to  a  frightful  death,  women  borne  helplessly 
away !  They  were  not  without  a  certain  taste  and 
skill  in  ornament ;  a  manly  ring  in  their  song  that 
stirs  the  blood  to-day ;  a  hopeful  outlook  on  life  which 
was  rightly  prophetic  of  greater  things ;  but  as  yet 
they  could  only  hate  the  culture  in  which  they  did  not 
share,  and  long  ravenously  for  the  fruits  which  were 
not  of  their  growing.  Nevertheless  they  had  wit  and 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       31 

wariness  enough  to  make  terms  where  good  terms 
could  be  made,  and  would  take  anything  very  readily 
as  a  gift  when  that  was  cheaper  than  winning  it  spear 
in  hand.  The  Admiral  Carausius  was  not  averse  to  a 
bargain,  and  paid  for  it  by  a  royal  outlawry. 

Once  at  open  enmity  with  Rome,  he  was  almost  neces- 
sarily the  friend  and  ally  of  the  Saxon.  This,  with  the 
force  at  command,  would  insure  his  own  frontier  against 
depredation ;  but  it  would  almost  as  certainly  involve 
more  or  less  of  friendly  settlement.  The  British  har- 
bors were  too  convenient  to  be  neglected  by  adven- 
turers out  of  food  and  water,  or  merely  seeking  a  tem- 
porary rest  among  those  who  half  feared  and  courted 
them.  The  spoils  of  other  coasts  were  very  tempting 
to  the  islander  when  brought  in,  lightly  won,  by 
men  willing  to  part  with  them  at  a  kindly  figure.  Once 
secure  for  the  time  against  being  appropriated  whether 
or  no,  the  half-Romanized  beauties  of  the  shore  may 
have  looked  with  more  than  approval  on  the  hardy 
strangers,  who  had  no  thought  of  reclining  while  they 
dined,  and  whose  leaders,  at  any  rate,  were  commonly 
great  of  limb,  ruddy  and  fair  in  the  face,  golden  of 
beard  and  hair.  Some  of  these  latter  would  take  ser- 
vice gladly  in  a  fleet  which  was  at  once  imperial  in 
name  and  at  war  with  the  real  emperor.  Others,  col- 
lectively or  singly,  by  accident  or  design,  would  cease 
their  roving  and  cast  a  firmer  anchor. 


32       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

As  we  have  seen  already,  it  is  not  possible  to  indicate 
a  time  within  the  limits  of  history  so  early  that  this 
kind  of  infiltration  from  the  eastward  was  not  already 
going  on.  Nor  can  we  be  quite  sure  of  fixing  an  end. 
"  At  the  close  of  the  last  century,"  says  the  author  of 
Mehalah,  the  coast  of  Essex  about  Mersey  isle  was 
"  haunted  by  smugglers  and  other  lawless  characters. 
...  A  strain  of  wild,  reckless,  law-defying  gypsy  blood 
entered  the  veins  of  the  marshland  populations.  Ad- 
venturers from  the  Low  Countries,  from  France,  even 
from  Italy  and  Spain,  originally  smugglers,  settled  on 
the  coast  .  .  .  married  and  left  issue.  In  the  plaster 
and  oak  cottages  away  from  the  sea  ...  live  the  old 
East  Saxon  slow-moving,  never-thinking  day-laborers. 
In  the  tarred  wreck-timber  cabins  by  the  sea,  just  above 
the  reach  of  the  tide,  swarms  a  yeasty  turbulent  race  of 
mixed-breeds."  Even  so  late  as  1889  an  explorer  of 
the  Essex  Archipelago  has  pointed  out  the  prevalence 
of  Dutch  names  and  odd  costumes  among  the  Anglicized 
rather  than  English  people  of  these  Eoman-walled 
islets.  But  for  the  distinctively  Saxon  settlement  in 
its  first  appreciable  beginning,  we  may  look  to  the  time 
of  Carausius. 

Yet  it  cannot  have  been  more  than  a  tattered 
fringing  of  the  more  tempting  or  exposed  frontier; 
melting  indistinguishably,  for  the  most  part  before  long, 
into  the  mass  of  shore-line  population.  For  the  insular 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       33 

rule,  even  with  the  extension  of  Allectus,  endured  only 
ten  years;  and  then  Rome  was  paramount -again,  ex- 
clusive as  before.  But  perhaps  the  example  of  Carausius 
had  some  effect  even  on  Constantine,  the  son  of  the  con- 
quering general,  who  really  won  the  Roman  purple 
instead  of  a  barren  ambition  and  an  insular  sover- 
eignity.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  he  held  the 
borders  firmly,  and  the  chief  changes  which  he  wrought 
for  the  island  must  have  been  in  religious  and  national 
feeling  and  in  southward  emigration.  If  not  a  Briton 
by  birth,  as  was  afterwards  feigned,  Constantine  the 
Great  was  identified  with  Britain  by  life-long  residence. 
Britons  felt  like  world-wide  conquerors  when  he  be- 
came emperor  at  Rome.  So  deeply  was  the  popular 
imagination  stirred  that,  as  we  shall  see,  his  name  alone, 
recurring  at  a  critical  period,  was  enough  to  win  for  an 
obscure  soldier  the  empire  of  Britain,  Gaul,  and  Spain, 
and,  perhaps,  to  found  a  dynasty  which  lingered  on 
into  the  second  century  of  the  Saxon  conquest. 

If  many  volunteers  went  southward  in  his  train,  or 
families  of  the  Romanizing  party  followed  him  to  the 
world-capital,  this  was  not  the  first  depletion  of  the 
island  due  to  Rome.  From  an  early  period  of  con- 
quest armies  had  been  recruited  there  to  fight  in  re- 
mote countries.  In  part,  these  conscriptions  may  have 
lessened  the  Roman  and  other  recent  elements.  But 
the  reduction  of  British  blood,  in  the  pre-Roman  sense, 


34       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

was  no  doubt  the  general  result.  For  every  reason, 
soldiers  would  be  taken  by  preference  from  among  the 
more  redoubtable  and  intractable  tribes.  When  these 
were  no  longer  to  be  come  by  in  sufficient  numbers, 
the  quiet  peasantry  and  townspeople  must  furnish  their 
quota.  And  when  Celtic  men  were  withdrawn  and 
Celtic  women  remained,  the  latter  would  often  make 
Hobson's  choice  of  foreigners. 

It  was  a  rather  comically  wide  choice  in  certain  cases. 
Spaniards,  Dalmatians,  Burgundians,  Indians,  Scyth- 
ians, Syrians,  Gauls,  and  Moors !  Hardly  any  people 
of  the  accessible  world,  however  unrelated  or  uncouth, 
but  was  required  to  aid  in  defending  Britain — and  pro- 
viding her  future  sons.  The  infusion  of  foreign  mili- 
tary blood  must  at  times  have  been  very  great;  as 
when  Agricola  and  his  legions  overcame  the  indepen- 
dence of  North  Britain,  or  Severus  trampled  it  down  a 
second  time  with  armies  out  of  which  he  lost  fifty 
thousand  men  ;  or  when  Hadrian  so  immensely  strength- 
ened the  northern  defences.  There  can  seldom  have 
been  less  than  twenty  thousand  legionaries  and  auxil- 
iaries on  the  island  at  once  between  the  year  50  and 
the  year  400.  To  calculate  their  possible  progeny 
in  successive  generations  would  be  like  reckoning  the 
sands  of  the  sea-shore. 

But  of  course  the  effect  was  not  equal,  nor  nearly 
equal,  everywhere.  The  mountain  tribes  and  the  ruder 


THE   TWO   LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       35 

woodland  people  felt  it  briefly  or  not  at  all.  In  the 
midland  cities  and  cultivated  valleys  it  was  slight  and 
occasional,  as  troops  for  some  special  purpose  were  moved 
hither  and  thither.  In  the  towns  known  significantly 
as  "  of  the  legions ;"  in  London,  which  took  the  legion- 
ary name  Augusta;  in  York,  long  the  military  and 
civil  head-quarters,  it  was  necessarily  great,  though 
not  necessarily  predominant.  But  it  was  greater  than 
anywhere  else  along  the  line  of  the  wall  which  corre- 
sponded nearly  to  the  modern  frontier  of  England  and 
Scotland,  along  that  of  the  lesser  and  later  one  crossing 
the  island  from  the  Firth  of  Forth  to  that  of  Clyde, 
and  in  parts  of  the  intervening  country,  the  Scotch 
lowlands.  In  parts,  tut  not  in  all,  for  remnants  of  the 
old  Caledonians  and  Msetse,  variously  modified,  lingered 
in  some  places, — perhaps  fastnesses  like  the  Lammer- 
moors  and  the  Pentland  hills, — and  under  the  name  of 
Attacotti  were  ready  on  occasion  to  become  the  most 
ferocious  of  all  the  northern  foes.  But  their  more  than 
usual  formidableness  may  imply  that  they  had  some 
benefit  of  legionary  example  and  foreign  blood.  The 
Spaniard  of  the  New  World  found  his  one  unconquer- 
able enemy  in  the  Araucanian  whose  tactics  were  like 
his  own,  and  that  enemy  became  vindictive  beyond  ex- 
ample whenever  he  was  partly  a  Spaniard  too.  Insur- 
rections of  such  as  these,  and  incursions  in  force  from 
the  northward  now  and  then,  left  the  lesser  wall  and 


36       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

its  dependencies  an  outlying  breakwater  insulated  in 
a  hostile  sea.  There  were  no  such  experiences  for  the 
main  wall  until  the  time  of  Theodosius,  although 
threateners  might  lurk  in  the  rough  country  of  the 
Brigantes  all  the  way  southward  to  the  Peak  of  Derby- 
shire and  the  later  kingdom  of  Elrnet.  Here  at  the 
north  were  strongholds  by  the  dozen,  the  fortified  mili- 
tary cities,  and  about  four-fifths  of  the  entire  army. 
The  newly-arriving  legionaries  or  auxiliaries  found 
themselves  in  a  garrison  population,  the  descendants 
of  the  descendants  of  soldiers  inwoven  in  every  degree, 
sharing  the  time-consecrated  tradition  of  obedience, 
fidelity,  vigilance,  and  daring;  the  imperial  eagle 
which  had  flown  afar  but  was  always  the  same; 
the  tongue  of  civilization  whereby  the  Rhone,  the 
Danube,  and  the  Jordan  might  converse  and  be  as 
one.  The  complex  daughters  of  the  land  bore  them  a 
more  complicated  martial  offspring.  When  they  de- 
parted they  left  the  better  part  of  themselves  behind. 
Even  after  the  entire  withdrawal  of  the  Romans  and 
all  who  followed  them,  there  remained  a  strenuous 
power  of  resistance.  Of  the  four  great  terminal  for- 
tresses, one  may  have  fallen  early,  but  a  second  held 
out  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  to  fall  in  the  great 
slaughter  of  Catraeth  ;  a  third  maintained  its  indepen- 
dence, except  for  one  brief  interval,  during  four  centu- 
ries, and  the  last  became  the  capital  of  a  free  Roman- 


THE   TWO   LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       37 

British  kingdom  of  equal  duration.  Undoubtedly 
there  was  here  a  great  reinforcement  by  Celtic  valor. 
But  we  know  that  in  civil  war  the  Roman  party  of  the 
north  proved  strong  enough  to  overthrow  its  opponents ; 
and  the  tenacity  of  Strathclyde  must  be  ascribed  in 
part  to  the  far-descended  sons  of  the  legions. 

There  was  another  and  very  different  border  where 
similar  causes  produced  similar  effects,  although  less 
in  degree,  because  their  duration  was  less.  The  Pict 
had  always  made  war  at  the  north,  but  we  have  seen 
when  the  Saxon  began.  In  the  second  century  there 
was  no  need  to  garrison,  unless  very  slightly,  the 
eastern  and  southern  coast;  but  from  the  time  of 
Carausius,  or  a  little  before,  such  need  had  become 
evident,  and  kept  increasing.  About  the  middle  of 
the  fourth  century  the  Saxons,  Picts,  and  Scots  for 
the  first  time  (it  seems)  began  acting  in  combination, 
the  island  being  simultaneously  assailed  from  almost 
every  quarter.  When  Theodosius  landed,  coming  to 
the  rescue,  the  open  country  of  Kent  was  in  the 
hands  of  barbarians,  who  were  driving  their  prisoners 
to  be  sold  like  cattle.  These  must  surely  have 
been  Saxons,  for  the  points  of  assault  of  the  other 
hostile  peoples  were  far  away.  He  defeated  them 
between  Richborough  and  London;  and  afterwards 
relieved  the  anxious  midland  towns,  hurrying  the 
Picts  northward  and  the  Scots  into  their  native  island 

4 


38       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

again.  So  runs  the  historical  tale,  but  this  cannot 
be  taken  without  exception.  There  were  Scots  in 
great  number  after  his  time  on  the  western  coast  of 
Britain,  and  the  Saxons,  also  said  to  have  been  ex- 
pelled, must  have  left  some  residuum  along  the  shore, 
to  which  by  partial  occupancy  and  continual  annoyance 
they  gave  their  name. 

The  danger  had  been  too  imminent  for  easy  recur- 
rence. Theodosius  made  the  shell  of  the  island  harder 
everywhere,  that  the  enemy  might  not  again  break  in. 
The  territory  between  the  walls  was  definitely  reoccu- 
pied,  the  Attacotti  were  conscripted  by  wholesale  to 
serve  abroad,  and  the  Count  of  the  Saxon  shore  found 
himself  in  possession  of  a  chain  of  fortresses,  well 
manned,  which  might  save  him  from  the  fate  of  his 
predecessor,  Nectarides,  whom  the  freebooters  had 
slain.  During  the  next  forty  years  they  proved 
sufficient,  and  we  may  suppose,  with  Dr.  Guest,  the 
development  there  of  just  such  a  soldierly  people  as  I 
have  described  along  the  northern  wall. 

Only  we  cannot  think  of  it  as  a  continued  belt  follow- 
ing the  coast.  The  forts  were  not  connected  in  any 
way,  and  the  settlement  surrounding  each  depended  on 
it  alone.  We  have  seen  that  an  enemy  was  quite  able 
to  overrun  the  country  between  London  and  its  forti- 
fied Channel  port.  No  doubt  they  had  entered  where 
Rochester  and  Eichborough  left  an  intervening  gap, 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       39 

or  through  some  similar  gate  of  access.  The  Saxon 
shore  was  well  calculated  for  a  long  struggle  in  detail 
against  fate,  but,  like  a  string  of  gems  (hard  enough 
one  by  one),  it  did  not  hold  firmly  together. 

And  before  very  long  there  was  a  great  depletion. 
The  legions  of  the  island  followed  Maximus  back 
towards  Rome,  as  they  had  followed  the  first  Con- 
stantine.  But  now  the  throng  of  native  volunteers 
became  alarming.  Not  only  was  the  prestige  of  that 
earlier  success  with  him,  but  to  the  half-Romanized 
Britoas  he  was  a  more  than  half-Britonized  Roman. 
Led  by  a  dream,  as  the  bards  and  story-tellers  were 
fond  of  averring,  he  had  come  from  afar  to  win  a 
British  princess  for  his  bride.  Even  the  all  but  inde- 
pendent mountain  kings  laid  claim  to  him  as  kinsman 
by  marriage.  Later  the  story  ran  that  their  ample 
reinforcements  won  for  him  the  victory;  however 
this  may  be,  it  is  certain  that  his  great  withdrawal 
of  British  forces  bore  the  blame  in  after-years  for 
many  calamities.  It  must  have  been  a  movement 
en  masse  of  the  fighting  males,  and  the  most  martial 
districts  would  suffer  most.  Some  of  course  remained, 
and  many  more,  no  doubt,  came  back  to  their  homes, 
but  the  legends  may  be  right  in  peopling  foreign  lands 
at  the  expense  of  the  isle,  and  singling  out  Armorica 
as  the  one  which  profited  most  largely.  The  matri- 
monial army  of  young  women  sent  after  them  may 


40       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

or  may  not  have  any  claims  on  our  belief.  The  same 
expedient  on  a  lesser  scale  was  certainly  resorted  to  in 
Elizabeth's  day.  But  this  fiction,  if  such  it  were,  at 
least  recognized  that  element  in  the  episode  of  conquest 
which  made  it  an  evil  and  a  menace  for  the  future. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  that  savager  tale  which  deals 
with  their  treatment  of  Breton  wives.  They  were 
a  host  of  marrying  men,  and  their  departure  was 
the  withdrawal  not  only  of  one  great  army  in  the 
present,  but  also  of  innumerable  armies  like  them, 
potentially  existent,  yet  never  really  to  be. 

Time  passed,  and  the  empire  was  in  feeble  hands 
again ;  and  the  barbarians  were  swarming  in  as  before. 
Stilicho,  the  last  Roman  general  worthy  of  the  name, 
repeated  the  exploit  of  Theodosius,  though  with  a 
smaller  force,  the  peril  being  less  urgent.  The  land 
was  cleared  once  more  of  naked  painted  people  and 
allied  seafaring  marauders.  But  it  was  rather  a  gasp 
for  fresh  air  than  a  real  breathing  spell.  The  cloud 
settled  again  upon  Britain.  Franks  and  Vandals 
and  Sueves  were  threatening  to  sweep  away  the  line 
of  retreat  and  leave  both  legionaries  and  Roman 
citizens  together  far  from  the  central  life  of  their  race. 
An  exodus  to  the  continent  set  in.  For  a  generation 
or  two  the  wealthier  provincials  had  been  gathering 
in  the  towns,  where  the  walls  gave  protection,  and  the 
theatre,  the  baths,  and  the  forum  aided  the  illusion 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       41 

that  after  all  nothing  was  quite  so  real  and  abiding 
as  the  luxury  of  Rome.  Now,  the  same  impulse 
carried  them  another  stage.  As  the  Saxon  shoreman, 
the  northern  borderer,  and  the  Welsh  fighting-man  had 
gone  southward  after  glory,  so  almost  in  their  wake 
went  the  voluptuary  of  the  towns  for  a  little  longer 
lease  of  Fool's  Paradise.  And  whatever  he  could 
carry  went  with  him ;  what  he  could  not  carry,  he  put 
as  far  as  might  be  under  ground. 

The  soldiery,  not  what  they  had  been,  took  the 
alarm,  rose  in  mutiny,  set  up  and  pulled  down  first 
one  puppet,  then  another,  as  uncertain  whence  sal- 
vation could  come.  At  last  they  found  hope  in  a 
name,  and  the  second  Constantine  had  the  wit  to 
begin  by  proving  himself  really  a  leader.  At  their 
head  he  swept  back  the  Picts  over  the  northern 
wall,  then  transported  his  forces  to  the  continent  after 
greater  things.  Many  of  the  youth  went  with  him 
besides  those  regularly  enrolled,  and  again  the  belts 
and  islands  of  semi-military  population  must  have 
been  the  heaviest  losers.  Fortune  favored  him  still 
further  in  the  repulse  of  the  assailants  from  beyond 
the  Rhine,  and  yet  more  in  the  acquisition  of  Gaul 
and  Spain.  His  son  Constans,  taken  from  a  cloister, 
was  made  Caesar.  He  had  fair  hopes  of  uniting 
the  western  empire  under  him.  But  neither  he 
nor  any  other  Roman  ever  sought  to  win  again  the 

4* 


42       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

island  he  had  deserted.  Its  final  separation  in  a 
military  sense  dates  from  this  withdrawal  of  the  im- 
perial army  about  A.r>.  408.  A  legion  may  possibly 
have  returned  long  after,  to  aid  in  holding  the  fron- 
tiers. But  probably  this  was  not  so;  and  in  any 
event  the  time  had  gone  by  when  such  a  reinforcement 
could  turn  the  current  of  history.  Still  there  was  no 
immediate  declaration  of  independence.  A  calm  of  sur- 
prise and  pleasure  must  have  settled  for  the  moment 
upon  Britain.  The  Picts,  humbled  by  their  recent 
experience,  were  taking  counsel  together  before  de- 
scending again  from  their  upland  homes.  The 
Saxons  can  hardly  yet  have  heard  of  their  oppor- 
tunity. The  more  southern  foes,  who  were  to  have 
seized  the  lines  of  communication,  had  been  driven 
far  away.  The  late  panic  may  have  begun  to  seem  a 
little  ridiculous. 

Yet  the  provincials  were  not  sleeping  unguarded. 
The  most  careless  commander — and  Constantine  had 
not  shown  himself  to  be  such — would  hardly  withdraw 
all  the  regular  forces,  and  make  no  provision  what- 
ever against  what  must  follow.  The  most  feeble  and 
fatuous  population  would  contrive  to  put  some  watch- 
men in  its  fortresses.  A  militia  of  this  sort  would 
almost  necessarily  be  formed  on  the  Roman  model. 

There  is  indeed  positive  evidence  of  such  organiza- 
tion. Gildas  represents  the  Roman  soldiery  on  the 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       43 

eve  of  departure  as  furnishing  patterns  of  their  arms, 
aiding  the  islanders  in  the  work  of  fortification,  and 
exhorting  them  to  "  valiantly  protect  their  country." 
The  ancient  poems  in  the  book  of  Taliessin  and  the 
Black  Book  of  Caermarthen  repeatedly  mention  the 
"nine  hundred  horse"  which  went  regularly  as  aux- 
iliaries with  a  Roman-  legion.  These  figure  as  attend- 
ant on  Cunedda ;  also  as  obeying  the  "  commanders" 
Bed  win  and  Bridlaw.  Again  the  sixty  centuria  are 
mentioned  as  holding  the  wall.  Finally,  we  are  told  ] 
in  plain  terms  of  "  the  legion  for  the  benefit  of  the 
country,"  and  of  "the  loricated  legion"  from  which 
"arose  the  Guledig"  Arthur.  Also  at  the  south  we 
hear  of  Ambrosius  opposing  Roman  discipline  to  the 
onslaught  of  Cerdic;  and  the  Britons  of  Banbury, 
under  Aurelius  Conan,  are  believed  to  have  adopted 
Roman  formation  and  strategy  without  avail.  The  / 
standards  also  were  Roman :  witness  the  eagle  un- 
earthed at  Silchester  and  "the  dragon  of  the  great 
Pendragonship."  In  all  this,  revival  is  so  much  less 
likely  than  survival  that  we  have  good  warrant  for 
assuming  the  latter. 

No  doubt  the  Roman  defensive  organization  would 
be  continued  also  in  its  larger  features.  A  Count  of 
the  Saxon  Shore  there  still  must  be,  though  perhaps 
under  another  name,  giving  some  unity,  some  chance 
of  concerted  action  to  the  garrisons  along  that  coast. 


44       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Also  a  Count  of  Britain  in  the  west,  where  were  tur- 
bulent mountaineers  and  Irish  inroads.  Above  all,  in 
the  north  a  Duke  of  Britain  with  a  preponderance  of 
command  that  almost  involved  supremacy.  For  here 
the  great  danger  lay.  Afterwards,  with  other  titles, 
men  called  him  the  Gosgordd  of  the  wall. 

The  calm  did  not  last.  Within  two  years  the  return 
of  alarm  brought  the  recurrence  of  revolution.  Con- 
stantine's  power  had  begun  to  fall  apart  already.  Ger- 
ontius,  his  best  general,  revolted  against  the  revolter, 
and  hounded  the  -barbarians  on  to  their  prey,  not 
sparing  Britain,  his  native  soil.  It  was  rumored  through 
the  province  that  all  the  pirates  were  coming  back 
again,  and  the  naked,  painted  savages  from  the  half- 
frozen  land.  Urgent  appeals  were  sent  to  Honorius  ; 
but  the  worthless  idler  of  Eavenna,  who  would  hardly 
bestir  himself  on  behalf  of  the  Eternal  City,  had  no 
good  words  for  subjects  far  away.  He  answered,  if  at 
all,  that  they  might  shift  for  themselves ;  and  they  did 
— shifting  his  functionaries  also.  Nennius  would  seem 
to  imply  that  violence  was  offered  to  these,  but  his 
meaning  is  not  clear.  They  were  driven  away  at  the 
least,  and  the  more  odious  offices  ended  then  and  there. 
Others  undoubtedly  survived,  with  a  change  of  incum- 
bents, for,  as  Mr.  Pearson  and  Mr.  Coode  have  pointed 
out,  they  are  in  the  municipal  constitution  of  English 
towns  to  this  day. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       45 

We  may  go  a  step  or  two  farther,  not  wholly  con- 
jectural. The  military  commanders,  having  already 
been  changed  by  the  withdrawal  of  Constantine,  would 
be  quite  out  of  the  upheaval.  Procopius,  quoted  by 
Mr.  Skene,  declares  that  the  kingly  power  did  not 
lapse,  but  that  the  island  remained  subject  to  tyrants. 
By  space  and  much  besides  this  writer  was  nearly  as 
far  removed  from  that  chapter  of  contemporary  history 
as  we  are  to-day.  But  so  salient  a  fact  would  make 
its  impression,  and  we  may  give  ear  to  it  as  at  least 
likely. 


CHAPTER   III. 

FROM   CUNEDDA  TO  VORTIGERN. 

PROFESSOR  EHYS  offers  a  novel  theory  of  dual 
control,  with  the  north  in  the  hands  of  Cunedda 
Wledig,  the  south  in  those  of  Ambrosius  Aurelianus, 
Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore.  Each  of  these  men  bore 
an  imperial  title  and  held  a  great  command;  but 
unhappily  they  were  not  contemporaries,  the  great 
Ambrose  being  slain  about  one  hundred  years  later. 
Moreover,  the  disparity  of  power  would  have  been  fatal 
to  the  independence  of  the  southeast.  Besides,  York 
had  been  for  long  the  capital  of  Britain.  Generals 
had  twice  gone  forth  from  it,  conquering  even  Rome. 
The  purple  belonged  there  in  a  special  sense.  A  great 
measure  of  provincial  license  might  be  looked  for,  but 
probably  there  was  at  least  the  nominal  recognition  of 
unity  in  the  nation  and  in  the  governing  power. 

Was  Cunedda  the  first  ruler  of  free  Britain  ?  There 
is  no  other  figure  which  stands  out  so  prominently  from 
that  canvas;  but  this  is  all  any  one  can  say.  Mr. 
Stephens  has  thought  his  existence  at  the  time  open  to 
question,  basing  the  doubt  on  a  poem  of  Taliessin,  who 
therein  professes  to  have  known  him  in  the  sixth  cen- 
46 


TEE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       47 

tury.     But  the  balance  of  evidence  inclines  the  other 
way. 

Whatever  his  personality,  he  could  be  nothing  less 
than  emperor  if  he  were  to  claim  general  obedience. 
Not  that  the  title  subsisted  literally.  It  was  translated 
into  the  Cymric  language,  and  so  lived  on.  Thus 
Maximus  the  emperor  became  the  Maxen  Wledig  of 
Welsh  story.  Ambrose  was  Embres  Guledig.  Arthur  <^ 
and  Cunedda  each  bore  Guledig  with  his  name.  The 
Guledig  or  Wledig  was  emphatically  what  the  irnper- 
ator  began  by  being,  a  general-in-chief,  a  king  of  war 
over  warlike  kings.  He  wore  the  imperial  purple.  It 
was  the  continuation  of  the  same  office. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  form  in  which  the  title 
survived.  The  Romanizing  party  were  not  wholly 
content  with  Cymric  sounds  in  such  a  case.  Their 
spokesman,  Gildas,  converts  both  emperor  and  Guledig 
into  Aurelius  or  Aurelianus.  Thus  we  have  Ambrosius 
Aurelianus,  Aurelius  Ambrosius,  and  Aurelius  Conan, 
the  latter  being  to  the  Welshman  Cynan  Guledig. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  equivalency. 

In  all  likelihood  this  first  British  sovereign  was  of 
the  northern  soldier-land  between  Stirling  and  Carlisle. 
Being  in  command  from  before  the  Roman  withdrawal, 
he  must  have  been  at  least  partly  Roman  in  feeling,  if 
not  in  blood.  He  was  threatened  from  several  quarters 
at  once  by  a  bewildering  variety  of  enemies,  and  under 


48       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

the  jealous  watch  of  an  opposition  that  grew  stronger 
continually.  It  was  the  place  for  a  great  genius ;  but, 
failing  genius,  he  must  go,  as  he  went,  to  the  wall. 

The  Pict  was  his  greatest  foe ;  and  next  the  aquatic 
Irishman  then  called  the  Scot ;  and  then  the  sea- faring 
Dane-Dutchman  called  Saxon.  To  these  have  been 
conjecturally  added  the  Welsh  mountain-tribes  and 
the  Armorican  immigrants.  Behind  these  last  was 
another  danger,  which  no  modern  historian  has 
noticed,  though  Nennius  states  it  plainly.  But  it 
could  not  be  felt  as  yet.  Let  us  consider  these  ele- 
ments of  the  problem  in  the  order  given. 

Who  were  the  Picts?  The  Brithwr,  the  Britons; 
primarily,  the  painted  people ;  secondarily,  the  mixed 
people;  in  every  way  the  most  authentic  and  only 
unconquered  representatives  of  the  island  as  it  was 
before  the  Romans  came.  But  so  utterly  had  this 
been  lost  sight  of,  that  to  Gildas  they  were  a  "  foreign 
nation"  of  "  villanous  faces"  and  very  little  decency. 
Now,  Gildas  is  the  champion  abuser  of  all  men  except 
the  men  of  Christian  Rome ;  but  in  this  instance  he 
has  some  reason.  We  ought  to  sympathize,  maybe, 
with  the  free  and  daring  Brithwr;  but  sympathy  is 
not  easy  with  wild  irrational  people  who  prefer  to 
go  naked  and  to  look  like  cannibals.  Yet  in  that 
northern  climate  this  oan  hardly  have  been  their 
invariable  array.  They  formed  alliances  with  the 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       49 

Saxons, — hardly  introducing  nudity  into  diplomacy. 
They  kept  spies  regularly  in  the  enemy's  camp,  who 
assuredly  wore  clothing.  They  received  and  enrolled 
deserters,  even  Romans,  of  course  without  requiring 
them  to  undress  and  freeze.  In  quieter  moments  they 
learned  something  of  convention,  something  of  civility, 
from  their  hated  but  more  enlightened  neighbor. 
They  spoke  an  old  language  comparing  with  Scotch 
Gaelic  as  the  Welsh  compares  with  the  Cornish ;  "  a 
cultured  or  literary  language"  in  the  time  of  Bede, 
which  is  supposed  to  have  been  brought  in  the  fifth 
century,  or  not  much  later,  "  under  the  trammels  of 
written  forms."  Perhaps,  after  all,  they  went  bare 
only  in  circumstances  of  great  excitement,  as  the 
Quaker  matrons  once  did,  or  the  Comanche,  furiously 
happy,  who  loved  to  take  the  war-path  clad  in  noth- 
ing but  a  blotch  of  war-paint  and  an  unearthly  yell. 

In  their  general  designation,  as  in  the  earlier  one  of 
Caledonians  (Woodlanders),  many  varying  tribes  must 
have  been  included.  They  derived  something,  no 
doubt,  as  they  are  known  to  have  done  afterwards,  from 
each  people  along  their  borders, — from  the  Scot,  whom 
Gildas  describes  as  "  differing  in  manners,"  though  he 
is  careful  to  convey  no  compliment ;  from  the  Teuton, 
or  Scandinavian,  prowling  and  settling  along  the 
eastern  coast;  from  the  heterogeneous  assemblage  of 
auxiliaries  along  the  wall.  Here,  too,  in  d 


c       d  5 


50       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

were  the  more  intractable  of  the  tall  ruddy  folk  whom 
Tacitus  took  note  of  centuries  before ;  and  here  the 
strongly-,  squarely-built  people  who  have  left  a  deeper 
mark  on  tradition.  The  Pict  of  the  Highland  peasant 
is  not  at  all  the  tattooed  gentleman  who  figures  so 
nobly  in  the  illustrations  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh's  Ro- 
anoke  narrator.  But  all  difficulties  vanish  when  you 
think  of  them  as  a  loosely-organized  assemblage 
of  tribes,  with,  it  may  be,  little  in  common  except 
their  substitution  of  paint  for  clothing,  or  their  rapa- 
cious hostility,  and  some  peculiarities  of  arms, — for 
one  thing,  "  the  hooked  weapons,"  wherewith,  accord- 
ing to  the  ridiculous  old  tale,  they  pulled  down  from 
the  wall  its  "  useless"  garrison  which  "  slumbered" 
although  "panic-stricken."  But  it  is  not  likely  that 
Gildas  invented  this  contrivance  altogether. 

The  Scots,  we  are  told,  came  "from  the  northwest," 
and  this  may  imply  either  an  attack  on  the  region 
between  the  walls,  or  a  descent  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Anglesey,  or  penetration  into  the  lowland  of 
Britain  through  the  heart  of  the  Welsh  Mountains. 
Already  they  had  settlements  in  Galloway  and  North 
Wales,  and  these  must  have  been  enlarged  while 
others  were  formed  along  the  more  southerly  coast; 
but  no  large  city  seems  to  have  been  attempted,  no 
rich  agricultural  country  laid  waste,  unless  it  were 
near  the  western  sea.  The  scourge  fell  on  the  ruder 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

y^sS^^^^^X 

part  of  the  island  only,  and  can  never  by  itself  have 

*  f     ' 

been  a  great  danger,  one  would  say. 

The  eastern  sea-kings  we  have  briefly  considered 
already.  Much  has  been  made  of  a  supposed  three- 
fold tribal  division,  and  ingenuity  has  been  exerted  in 
finding  recondite  meanings  for  the  three  ships  of  Hen- 
gist,  and  the  three  hundred  thousand  men  who  incredi- 
bly followed  him.  But  all  were  confused,  and  there 
can  have  been  little  real  distinction.  Ethelward's 

Chronicle  indeed  mentions  their  migration  (as  reported) 

* 

"from  the  three  provinces  of  Germany  which  are 
said  to  have  been  the  most  distinguished,  namely,  from 
Saxony,  Anglia,  and  Giota."  But  a  few  lines  further 
on  we  read,  "  Britain,  therefore,  is  now  called  Anglia 
(England)  because  it  took  the  name  of  its  conquerors ; 
for  their  leaders  aforesaid  were  the  first  who  came 
thence  to  Britain,  namely,  Hengist  and  Horsa"  Now, 
Hengist  and  Horsa,  by  all  other  accounts,  landed  with 
the  Jutes  in  Kent,  and  Ethel  ward  himself  elsewhere  men- 
tions Wipped's-fleet  as  the  precise  spot,  while  also  say- 
ing that  "  the  Cantuarians  derived  their  origin  from  the 
Giotse."  Either  Hengist  and  Horsa  were  Angles  who 
sometimes  led  Jutes,  or  our  chronicler  is  hopelessly  at 
sea  with  regard  to  any  real  difference  between  the  tribes. 
In  other  places  Ethel  ward  calls  the  people  of  Essex 
the  Orientales  Angli  ;  and  this  in  reference  to  the  time 
of  Sigebert  or  Ssebert.  Again  and  again  he  applies 


52       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

the  name  Western  Angles  to  the  people  who  made 
Wessex.  We  know  on  other  authority  that  Cerdic, 
the  first  great  leader  of  the  latter,  drew  more  than 
once  reinforcements  from  the  Jutes  of  Kent,  and  that 
the  South  Saxons  also  contributed.  Again,  Nennius 
declares  that  the  sons  of  Hengist,  who  must  have  been 
Jutish  if  he  were  so,  occupied  "  many  regions,  even  to 
the  Pictish  confines,"  a  northern  neighborhood  hitherto 
given  over  to  the  Angles.  Also  in  this  quarter  we  meet 
with  the  Frisian  Sea.  But  again,  Nennius  speaks  of 
the  "  elders  of  the  Angle  race"  who  "  attended"  Hen- 
gist,  seemingly  in  Thanet.  As  for  Gildas,  he  ignores 
the  Angle  and  Jute  altogether,  although  he  must 
have  known  of  the  early  conquest  near  London,  and 
although  he  refers  to  the  traditional  invitation  of 
Vortigen,  and  perhaps  also  the  wasting  of  the  north 
nearly  from  sea  to  sea. 

After  a  century  and  a  quarter  of  invasion,  he  has 
but  one  name,  though  many  epithets,  for  these  eastern 
invaders, — "  the  fierce  and  impious  Saxons, — doggish, 
— wolfish, — bastard  born, — a  race  hateful  both  to  God 
and  men!"  Oddly  enough,  the  northern  Gael,  the 
Welshman,  and  the  Irish  have  agreed  to  continue  the 
same  general  designation,  though  it  was  long  indeed 
before  they  could  come  in  contact  with  the  people  of 
Essex,  Sussex,  Wessex,  or  Middlesex.  Nor  is  there  in 
Gildas,  or  other  early  British  writers,  any  indication 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       53 

of  sucli  a  difference  among  the  sea-folk  as  he  takes 
note  of  between  the  Picts  and  Scots,  though  the  latter 
were  so  much  farther  away.  Everything  goes  to  show 
that  there  was  practical  identity  everywhere ;  or,  which 
is  more  likely,  such  intermixture  as  would  prevent 
distinction  on  territorial  lines. 

Turning  again  to  Ethel  ward,  we  find  Sleswig  stated 
as  the  Anglian  capital,  and  the  very  direct  implication 
that  the  Jutes  dwelt  farther  north,  while  the  Saxons 
were  more  southerly.  Our  annalist  is  very  cautious 
though.  He  tells  us  what  "is  said  to  have  been;" 
he  writes  "  in  the  confusion  of  the  times  ;"  he  frankly 
admits  his  ignorance  of  the  king  "near  the  Jupiterean 
Mountains"  who  had  married  the  aunt  of  his  patroness ; 
and  we  can  take  him  only  as  proving  the  belief  of 
tenth-century  England.  This  understood  a  large  part 
of  the  Danish  peninsula  to  be  German  territory ;  gave 
precedence  and  predominance  in  migration  to  the  people 
of  the  three  provinces  particularly  named ;  but  sup- 
posed that  "a  large  multitude  joined"  the  settlers 
under  Hengist  "  from  every  province  of  Germany." 

This  bears  out,  in  part,  so  far  as  it  goes,  the  theory 
of  Mr.  Seebohm,  and  also  the  more  recent  one  of  Mr. 
Du  Chaillu,  both  of  which  have  met  with  a  rather 
vehement  but  inconclusive  response  from  Dr.  Freeman 
in  the  Contemporary  Review.  The  writer  first  named 
finds  the  three-field  system  of  culture  prevalent  in 

5* 


54       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

early  England;  but  notes  its  "conspicuous  absence" 
from  Northern  Germany,  the  home  of  the  Angle. 
Turning  southward,  he  avers  that  "  it  undoubtedly 
existed"  in  "those  districts  of  Middle  Germany 
reaching  from  Westphalia  to  Thuringia."  He  thinks 
it  at  least  possible  that  the  invaders  of  England  may 
have  proceeded  thence  rather  than  from  the  regions  on 
the  northern  coast." 

Dr.  Freeman  cries  out  against  the  sacrilege  of  re- 
ducing history  to  the  level  of  manure-distribution,  or, 
worse  still,  making  it  a  mere  appendage  thereto.  But 
he  can  find  no  wiser  reply  than  that  "  our  ancestors" 
would  have  had  sense  enough  to  change  their  methods 
when  changes  were  needed.  Now,  would  they  ?  The 
most  emancipated  people  do  not  easily  discard  inherited 
habit,  even  in  trifles.  The  English  horsewoman  sits 
her  horse  on  the  left  side  for  the  good  original  reason 
that  (in  a  country  which  guides  left)  it  is  plainly 
the  side  of  safety.  In  America,  where  the  rule  is  "  turn 
to  the  right,"  the  conditions  are  reversed,  the  fair 
rider's  limbs  and  habit  incurring  all  the  danger  from 
every  passing  vehicle.  Yet,  with  annual  loss  of  life, 
the  senseless  survival  continues.  Customs  may  change, 
no  doubt,  but  we  naturally  assume  the  contrary  until 
the  change  be  proven.  When  it  does  occur,  it  is  often 
the  result  of  imitation.  Out  of  a  mixed  multitude  of 
settlers,  with  various  and  inconsistent  methods,  the 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       55 

fittest  plan  for  their  new  conditions  will  generally  in 
the  end  prevail.  We  need  no  more  assume  that  the 
"Saxons"  who  invaded  Britain  were  all  Thuringians 
than  that  there  were  no  Thuringians  among  them. 

Mr.  Du  Chaillu's  contention  is  not  at  all  a  new  one, 
unless  in  the  extremeness  of  its  claim.  The  evidence 
of  language  may  be  set  against  it.  But  that  is  no  re- 
liable test.  Negroes  are  not  Englishmen  nor  Teutons 
of  any  sort ;  but  in  the  Southern  States  they  commonly 
speak  English  only.  Mr,  Stuart-Glen nie  assures  us 
that  the  Scottish  kingdom  was  mainly  Celtic ;  and  the 
blood  of  the  Celt  may  preponderate  within  its  ancient 
boundaries  to-day ;  yet  nowhere  else  has  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  tongue  been  preserved  so  nearly.  In  all  north- 
eastern England  the  Danes  and  the  Northmen  have 
left  their  great  limbs  and  their  most  distinctive  features 
of  personal  aspect  for  an  inheritance,  and  we  know 
that  their  blood  prevails  where  they  were  most  plenty ; 
but  what  Englishman  is  born  to  speak  Danish  or 
Norwegian  now  ?  One  can  only  say  that  there  must 
have  been  many  Teutons  in  the  first  great  onslaught 
from  the  east,  and  that  there  may  have  been  many  Celts 
and  Scandinavians  too. 

It  has  been  said,  and  repeated  by  Mr.  Sharon  Tur- 
ner, writing  long  ago,  that  the  Saxons  were  very  care- 
ful while  on  the  continent  to  preserve  the  purity  of 
their  race.  But  this  can  never  have  been  true  of  more 


56       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

than  certain  classes  in  certain  tribes.  A  like  statement 
might  be  made  of  one  Indian  remnant  which  will  not 
intermarry  with  "  colored  people/'  but  would  mislead 
if  applied  generally.  Such  scruples  did  not  survive 
the  invasion,  for  even  Hengist  was  glad  to  secure  a 
British  son-in-law ;  Ida  took  a  British  wife,  and  less 
conspicuous  instances  must  have  been  common  from 
the  beginning.  We  cannot  reasonably  doubt  that  the 
foreigners  who  came  pouring  into  the  eastern  and 
southern  coast  of  the  island  during  the  fifth  century 
were  already  modified  in  every  conceivable  degree  by 
their  conquests  and  interminglings  on  the  mainland. 
We  think,  in  the  main  truly,  of  Saxons  and  their 
fellow-marauders  as  mighty  blondes,  but  there  may  well 
have  been  dark  eyes  and  thin,  eager  faces  in  the  throng 
that  forced  the  passage  of  the  Cray,  and  Roman  noses 
and  brows  in  the  storming  of  Anderida. 

Beyond  this,  their  inevitable  method  of  approach, 
and  their  peculiar  habit  of  warfare,  would  insure  a 
different  kind  of  intermingling.  In  all  ages,  and 
among  all  peoples,  a  ship  of  war  is  cosmopolitan.  Sea- 
men belong  here  or  there,  but  they  belong  more  than 
all  else  to  the  realm  of  many  borders,  the  ever-flowing 
sea.  It  calls  them,  and  they  are  ready  to  ship  again 
wherever  found.  Brownell,  in  a  spirited  battle-piece, 
shows  us  the  New  Englander,  the  Virginian,  the 
dweller  by  the  Mississippi,  "  the  blue  eyes  from  turfy 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       57 

Shannon,  black  orbs  from  palmy  Niger,"  all  manning 
the  batteries  of  the  flag-ship  "  Hartford"  as  she  comes 
pushing  on  the  iron-clad  "  Tennessee."  He  was  there. 
And  no  doubt  a  far  larger  list  might  be  made  on  any  one 
of  the  great  naval  monsters  now  afloat.  But  the  pirate, 
the  unbiassed  and  uncontrollable  sea-king,  who  wars 
for  plunder,  and  against  anybody,  and  all  the  time,  is 
sure  of  a  much  more  motley  crew.  Adventurers  gather 
to  him  from  every  quarter.  So  they  be  callous,  rapa- 
cious, and  daring,  they  may  be  what  else  they  will. 
And  although  the  westward  movement  of  the  sea-faring 
Teutons  ended  in  migration,  it  began  in  piracy. 

There  are. indeed  these  two  stages  in  their  part  of 
fifth-century  history.  When  we  first  meet  them,  they 
are  vikings  on  a  foray.  Later,  as  local  names  show, 
they  are  settlers  who  have  brought  their  households 
and  become  good  people  of  the  land,  kin  and  kin  to- 
gether. There  is  no  precise  line  to  be  drawn,  and 
there  may  have  been  something  of  the  second  in  the 
earlier  stage  from  near  the  beginning.  But  in  the  time 
of  which  I  now  write,  the  first  three  or  four  decades  of 
British  independence,  the  Saxons  and  Angles  must  have 
been  for  the  most  part  very  mixed  free-booters,  de- 
scending here  and  there  on  the  coast,  and  aiding  each 
other  only  as  caprice  dictated.  Something  of  their  own 
blood  was  all  along  the  Saxon  Shore,  but  probably  no 
longer  able  or  willing  to  aid.  In  Valencia,  between 


58       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

the  walls,  it  may  have  been  different.  The  remnant  of 
the  Attacotti  may  have  been  in  arms ;  the  Picts,  by 
making  a  slight  detour  in  their  curraghs  at  sea,  could 
easily  join  them  ;  and  we  may  look  to  this  ill-guarded 
region  as  the  most  probable  quarter  for  early  Anglo- 
Saxon  settlement.  Says  Goeffrey  of  Moumouth, 
"  Scotland  .  .  .  being  in  itself  a  frightful  place  to  live 
in  and  wholly  uninhabited,  had  been  a  safe  retreat  for 
strangers.  By  its  situation  it  lay  open  to  the  Picts 
Scots,  Dacians,  Danes,  Norwegians,  and  others  that 
came  to  plunder  the  island."  The  statement  has  a 
traditional  sound,  if  not  wholly  accurate;  it  is  made  of 
a  time  not  very  much  later ;  and  in  substance  he  re- 
peats it. 

As  to  native  British  outbreaks  in  what  we  now  call 
England  and  Wales,  we  have  nothing  reliable  to  go 
upon.  Mr.  Pearson  puts  in  evidence  the  skulls  found 
in  Uriconium.  But  British  citizens  were  certainly 
killed  there,  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the 
army  of  Ceawlin,  which  presumably  slew  them,  in- 
cluded many  individuals  of  Celtic  or  even  pre-Celtic 
type.  We  need  not  suppose  any  earlier  destruction. 
We  are  informed  by  a  note  of  the  same  author 
that  there  is  a  tradition  of  the  firing  of  Cirencester 
(Corineum)  by  sparrows  having  matches  tied  to  them, 
which  the  "native  tribes"  let  fly  to  the  thatched  roofs 
over  the  wall.  But  this  is  only  a  repetition  of  the  tale 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       59 

told  at  Calleva  and  elsewhere,  with  the  Saxons  for  the 
authors  of  the  stratagem ;  and  we  know  from  the  Saxon 
Chronicles  that  Cirencester  remained  unconquered  until 
the  last  quarter  of  the  succeeding  century.  Native 
princes,  with  some  shadow  of  power,  may  (as  some 
think)  have  held  court  at  Glevum  and  Anderida  all 
through  the  Roman  period.  No  doubt  they  and  others 
would  be  tempted  by  the  opportunity  now  open.  The 
old  Gaelic  settlements  along  the  coast  of  Wales  would 
naturally  bestir  themselves  occasionally  at  sight  of  the 
Scottish  fleets.  There  may  even  have  been  risings  to 
the  south  of  the  wall  in  aid  of  the  Brithwr.  But  no 
such  movements  can  have  accomplished  anything 
great,  or  we  should  have  heard  of  them  at  least  faintly. 
There  was  in  some  sense  an  invasion  at  this  period 
from  the  south.  Its  character  remains  to  be  considered. 
It  may  have  begun  with  the  appeal  to  Honorius.  The 
cry  for  help  which  could  reach  Italy  would  not  fail  to 
be  heard  by  every  Briton  in  Gaul.  The  legions  of 
Constantine,  though  broken,  would  be  in  sympathy 
with  revolt  against  his  conqueror,  and  many  stragglers 
from  them  would  soon  begin  streaming  over  the  chan- 
nel to  an  asylum  which  was  made  safe  and  sure  by  a 
common  need.  Very  likely  some  of  their  leaders 
would  go  with  them.  One  tradition  even  brings  back 
a  son  of  the  second  Constantine,  to  win  for  a  time  the 
empire  of  Britain  and  found  a  long-enduring  dynasty 


60       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

in  Devon.  In  Gildas's  time  a  Constantine  of  Dam- 
nonia  was  certainly  powerful.  Dr.  Guest,  a  great 
authority,  who  accepts  him  as  lineally  the  third  of  that 
name,  has  been  at  some  pains  in  working  out  a  con- 
jectural family-tree  for  this  line.  But  we  may  tread 
more  safely  in  the  broad  path  of  what  must  have  been. 

We  know  that  Armorica,  which  had  been  one  with 
the  neighboring  part  of  Britain  ever  since  the  days  of 
the  Belgae,  followed  the  islanders  into  rebellion  against 
Rome.  We  know  that  it  lay  in  one  of  the  main  routes 
of  transit.  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  movements 
en  masse  back  and  forth  were  growing  more  frequent 
than  they  ever  had  been  during  several  centuries.  We 
hear  fantastically  through  romancers  of  great  military 
expeditions,  either  way  alternately.  Likewise,  by  the 
monkish  narratives  it  would  seem  that  either  shore  took 
in  hand  the  work,  turn  and  turn  about,  of  evangelizing 
the  other.  Finally,  we  discover  an  historical  Riothamus, 
a  chieftain  of  the  island,  making  his  turbulent  ten 
thousand  conspicuous  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire. 

For,  indeed,  in  Gaul  disorder  was  the  order  of  the 
day.  Fragments  of  Roman  power,  fragments  of  sedi- 
tion, fragments  of  barbaric  invasion,  all  were  confusedly 
tossing  together.  In  one  last  rally  of  the  central  power, 
Breton  independence  went  down.  Rome  could  not 
save  herself,  but  she  could  make  Armorica  desolate. 
The  hordes  which  crowded  upon  her  could  and  would 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       61 

do  so  even  more  effectively.  Billows  of  fire  scorched 
out  of  being  so  much  of  Britain  as  lay  south  of  the 
narrow  sea.  Her  halls  and  towers  were  left  in  ruin ; 
her  people  in  great  numbers  sought  the  main  body  of 
their  kindred.  Centuries  were  required  to  restore  im- 
perfectly what  had  been  wasted. 

This  movement  is  considered  by  Mr.  Wright  a  sav- 
agely hostile  invasion.  He  believes  that  these  Bretons 
destroyed  Uriconium  and  settled  in  the  region  around 
it  as  the  ancestors  of  the  modern  Welsh.  But  how  did 
they  overleap  the  coast  country,  where  a  more  nearly 
allied  idiom,  not  transitional,  has  been  spoken  until 
lately  ?  And  if  they  sailed  around  Cornwall  and  up 
the  Severn,  why  were  they  more  kind  to  Glevum 
and  its  sister  cities  than  to  the  bright  town  by  the 
Wrekin?  Yet  these  lived  and  prospered  until  long 
after,  when  Ceawlin  came.  On  this  hypothesis  we  can 
form  no  reasonable  idea  of  them  or  their  campaigns. 

It  is  easier  to  suppose  that  these  exiles  were  a  little 
like  other  human  beings.  Perhaps  they  came  by 
degrees  and  were  lost  in  the  mass  of  the  people.  It 
may  be  that  their  presence  was  mainly  felt  in  putting 
forward  Celtic  or  anti-Romanizing  candidates  for  the 
purple.  Possibly,  too,  they  aided  in  furthering  a 
pagan  reaction. 

Rome  herself  may  have  stimulated  both  these  move- 
ments by  her  spasm  of  self-assertion.  When  the 

6 


62       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

islander  saw  the  threatening  of  the  eagle  beyond  the 
channel,  and  listened  to  the  tale  of  guests  who  had 
felt  the  talons  already,  he  may  well  have  wondered 
if  his  own  chastisement  were  not  near.  Perhaps  it 
may  be  a  straining  of  the  words  of  Nennius  to  explain 
the  " dread  of  the  Romans"  in  this  way;  but  the 
dread  must  have  been  real,  nevertheless,  though  not 
for  very  long.  And  we  can  well  understand  that 
many  might  find  a  savor  of  patriotism  in  un-Roman 
manners  and  a  return  to  pre-Christian  faith. 

No  doubt  there  had  always  been  an  opposition  to 
both.  Archdeacon  W.  Basil  Jones  has  called  atten- 
tion to  evidences  of  pagan  survival  in  Britain  and 
Gaul,  particularly  a  temple  of  the  latter  wherein 
the  worship  of  a  heathen  deity  apparently  continued 
until  the  end  of  Rome.  Gildas  mentions  the  grim 
"gods  of  our  country"  as  yet  standing  even  in  the 
second  half  of  the  fifth  century  at  their  neglected 
shrines.  It  is  not  surprising  to  hear  through  another 
channel  that  the  Druids  came  hack  to  Mona  for  a 
time.  Something  of  the  old  wildwood  faith,  some- 
thing of  the  transplanted  southern  Jove-worship,  may 
have  been  hopefully  astir. 

The  fascination  of  mystery  hangs  about  all  the  ele- 
ments of  the  life  of  man  in  those  forsaken  days ;  and 
over  none  more  than  the  beliefs  and  sentiments  which 
are  called  religion.  We  can  feel  that  a  tumultuous  con- 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       63 

flict  was  going  on ;  but  we  can  see  little.  With  an 
apostolic  ardor,  a  few  men  seem  to  have  flung  them- 
selves into  battle  against  the  host  of  darkness,  and  later 
ages  believed  that  they  wrought  miracles.  The  statelier 
and  more  mundane  churchmen  probably  gave  their 
knowledge  and  sagacity  towards  keeping  the  ship  of 
state  trim  and  before  the  wind.  Thus  the  cloud  opens 
a  moment,  showing  St.  Germain  and  his  disciples 
driving  off  an  army  of  heathen  plunderers  in  panic  by 
the  mighty  outcry  of  their  faith ;  while  Geoffrey  sets 
Guitolinus  before  us  as  the  spiritual  and  temporal  father 
of  his  country, — a  king-maker  above  all.  This  half- 
compiler,  half-romancer  is  given  to  playing  at  parlor 
magic  with  a  name  and  its  fanciful  suggestions.  The 
Guitolin  of  Nennius  (barely  mentioned)  must  needs 
be  fitted  into  some  part  having  to  do  with  discords 
in  Britain ; — why  not  that  of  the  priestly  Warwick 
of  the  day  ?  Yet,  others  being  open,  it  is  likely  this 
choice  was  determined  by  some  legendary  preparation 
of  the  public  mind. 

But  with  all  their  advantage  of  zeal,  of  knowledge, 
and  of  position,  it  is  probable  that  the  men  who  stood 
for  Christ  in  the  main  were  losing  ground.  The  set 
of  the  time  was  against  them.  As  an  establishment 
lingering  over  from  profligate  days,  their  members 
may  here  and  there  have  lain  open  to  indictment.  A 
reaction  towards  Celtic  simplicity  would  make  the  most 


64       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

of  their  self-indulgence  and  connivances.  For  oppo- 
site reasons,  a  brutal  chieftain  and  his  followers  would 
revolt  from  the  hot,  plain  words  of  the  evangelist. 
Finally,  the  defeat  of  the  Roman-British  fighting- 
men  at  the  north  told  heavily  against  the  Christians. 
One  field  may  have  been  divinely  granted  them,  but 
it  was  very  evident  that  no  abiding  miracle  held  back 
the  heathen.  The  party  with  which  they  were  iden- 
tified suffered  blow  after  blow,  and  finally  was  super- 
seded altogether.  Then  there  must  have  followed  a 
time  of  great  uncertainty  in  creed  and  life.  There 
is  temptation  to  linger  in  these  shadows  between 
twilight  and  twilight.  How  was  it  that  men  lived 
then ;  and  what  like  were  they  ?  The  great  cities  of 
the  land  were  untouched  as  yet,  and  threatened,  if  at 
all,  very  distantly.  The  Roman  shell  in  each  instance 
was  all  there  yet.  The  Roman  body,  shrunken  at  first, 
had  filled  out  again  in  a  measure  by  the  inpouring 
from  Gaul  and  the  gathering  of  the  country. 
Weaker  elements  had  been  rubbed  away  in  part. 
Men  had  been  startled  at  least  a  little  out  of  effemi- 
nacy. The  Celtic  memories  were  modifying  the 
habits  of  later  Rome.  The  religious  reformer  and 
social  reformer,  though  often  jarring,  were  yet  at  work 
together. 

The  citizen  went  as  of  old  to  loiter  at  the  public 
bath,  but  he  had  somewhat  more  to  talk  about  and  think 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       65 

about  than  before.  He  sent  his  son  to  serve  in  arms,  but 
no  longer  as  an  exile,  from  whom  he  might  never  hear 
again.  He  aided  in  walling  his  city,  crudely  but  mas- 
sively, and  took  (for  he  widened  her  defensive  area)  an 
increasing  pride  in  her  populousness.  He  dined,  Roman- 
fashion,  in  larger  apartments  than  those  of  his  fore- 
fathers, and  he  made  repairs  in  them,  not  over-tasteful. 
He  spoke  Latin,  but  with  more  and  more  of  Celtic  de- 
basement, and  knew  at  least  one  or  two  of  the  native 
island  tongues.  He  had  a  few  books,  no  doubt,  in 
manuscript,  but  was  falling  out  of  the  way  of  caring  for 
or  preserving  them.  He  took  part  in  the  conferences 
at  the  basilica,  and  gave  his  vote  for  the  petition  of 
some  subject  territory,  or  against  yielding  to  the 
pretensions  of  some  growing  princelet  of  the  hills 
and  moors,  or  to  complete  a  league  offensive  and 
defensive  with  a  bevy  of  friendly  towns.  When  there 
was  rumor  of  disturbance,  he  took  his  spear  and  went 
with  his  acquaintances  to  garrison  the  wall.  In  quiet 
times,  and  they  were  oftenest,  he  carried  on  his  ac- 
customed business  in  the  accustomed  way,  using  the 
familiar  means  and  lines  of  transit.  Gold  and  silver 
were  sometimes  in  circulation,  sometimes  not,  and 
values  gradually  accommodated  themselves  to  the 
latter  condition,  brass  coins  being  made  to  do  most 
of  the  work,  but  very  greatly  increased  in  volume. 
For  this  new  mintage  old  devices  were  used;  some- 
e  6* 


66       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

times,  very  naturally,  those  of  elder  British  "  tyrants" 
who  had  withstood  Rome.  It  is  likely  that  these 
were  struck  in  different  cities,  for  we  find  the  latter 
retaining  even  in  Saxon  times  the  right  of  individual 
issue,  which,  Mr.  Pearson  holds,  can  have  arisen  in 
this  curious  interval  only. 

Such  is  perhaps  as  good  an  account  as  we  can  now 
give  of  the  life  of  an  urban  Briton  in  Silchester  or 
Cirencester  or  Lenborough,  then  still  bearing  their 
Roman  names.  Farther  north,  of  course  there  would 
be  more  disquiet,  more  alarm ;  and  perhaps  this  would 
everywhere  be  true  of  the  isolated  villas,  where  such 
were  still  in  occupancy.  Serfs  no  doubt  were  grow- 
ing self-assertive,  restive,  hard  to  control.  Some  were 
joining  the  retinues  of  half-wild  chiefs,  and  must 
thereafter  be  fed  by  exaction  or  foray.  Private 
feuds  were  on  the  increase.  Even  the  plain  husband- 
man, though  relieved  of  some  burdens,  could  not 
bring  himself  to  work  as  diligently  as  of  old.  A 
sense  of  expectancy,  colored  dark  or  bright  by  pre- 
dilection, was  on  all.  This  was  aggravated  or  quieted 
by  the  changing  military  situation,  but  on  the  whole 
grew  apace. 

The  first  assault  of  the  barbarians  probably  over- 
came most  of  the  outlying  fortified  settlements  beyond 
the  Firth  of  Forth,  although  we  may  reasonably 
picture  an  Aberdeen  or  Inverness  holding  out  for  a 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       67 

long  time,  beyond  rescue  and  nearly  beyond  memory, 
— as  indeed  happened  not  long  ago  in  the  Soudan. 
Gildas,  following  a  long  and  vague  tradition,  de- 
clares that  the  whole  region  was  occupied  by  the 
invaders,  as  far  as  "the  wall,"  which  Ethelward 
interprets  "the  wall  of  Severus."  But  the  more 
northern  line  of  defence  can  hardly  have  fallen  at 
once.  Probably  it  was  outflanked  on  each  side,  and 
remained  a  reef,  with  a  bit  of  crag  at  either  end, 
in  the  lapping  and  raging  (front  and  rear)  of  that 
wild  human  sea.  The  British  commander  (whether 
Cunedda  or  another)  could  not  save  it,  could  not  even 
hold  his  ground  along  the  southern  line.  All  Valen- 
tia,  between  the  walls,  lay  dismally  at  choice  between 
the  devil  of  savagery  and  the  real  ocean,  and  when  the 
warders  were  dragged  from  the  wall  and  the  enemy 
poured,  slaughtering,  over  and  through,  the  condition 
of  the  next  province  became  nearly  the  same. 
Probably  there  were  many  Saxon  free  lances  among 
the  marauders,  for  a  foreign  writer  of  the  next  decade 
or  so  mentions  the  "  provinces  of  Britain"  as  already 
subject  to  that  people.  Modern  investigation  has  un- 
earthed near  Carlisle  the  relics  of  this  great  foray, — 
the  charred  timbers  of  the  old  Roman  station  at 
Maryport,  the  skeletons  of  men,  in  their  last  refuge, 
who  fought  perhaps  from  street  to  street  and  from 
room  to  room  during  the  sacking  and  burning  of 


68       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Ribchester.  Possibly  it  was  this  same  inroad  which 
first  drove  the  unhappy  provincials  of  Yorkshire,  with 
their  short-horned  herds  and  their  enamelled  jewelry, 
to  seek  a  dismal  refuge  in  the  cliff-caverns  of  King's 
Scaur,  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  the  sea. 

There  is  said  to  have  been  a  new  appeal  to  Rome, 
in  spite  of  the  long  estrangement;  but  it  effected 
nothing.  And  now  the  Celtic  element  of  the  West 
came  forward  to  supremacy.  The  North,  worn  out 
with  ill  fortune,  gave  way ;  and  the  purple  rested  on 
the  shoulders  of  Guorthegirn  or  Vortigern,  prince  of 
Demetia.  At  Caer  Gloui,  the  Roman  Glevum,  now 
Gloucester,  he  is  said  to  have  held  court,  as  had  a  long 
line  of  ancestry  before  him,  over  the  fertile  regions 
about  the  Severn.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  a 
native  ruler  was  allowed  by  Rome  to  mint  coins  at  this 
place  bearing  his  name,  and  to  exercise,  rajah-like, 
under  supervision,  more  or  less  of  local  sway;  and 
after  a  time  we  find  Vortigern  there  with  the  claim  to 
a  long  pedigree.  That  is  all  we  know,  if  we  can  be 
said  to  know  anything,  concerning  the  matter.  Mr. 
Whittaker  explains  his  name  as  a  slight  variation  of 
Vor  Tighairn,  meaning  Great  King. 

This  may  be  no  more  than  another  synonyme  for 
"  imperator ;"  yet  we  can  hardly  insist  on  holding  it 
so,  unless  we  are  prepared  to  rule  out  Lord  and  Earl, 
Prince  and  King,  from  the  list  of  credible  surnames. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       69 

Few  others,  nevertheless,  have  given  rise  to  so  much 
extravagance  in  speculation.  Mr.  Coode  is  good  enough 
to  furnish  him  with  Teutonic  spelling  and  lineage,  in- 
sisting that  he  has  been  put  on  the  wrong  side  alto- 
gether, and  led,  in  reality,  a  band  of  pirates  to  the 
invasion  of  Britain.  Professor  Rhys  advances  the 
more  cruel  hypothesis  that  he  is  an  illusion  entirely, 
a  myth  built  up  out  of  the  character  and  the  doings  of 
Gerontius,  the  connecting  link  being  that  the  latter  was 
born  in  Britain. 

The  parallel  is  certainly  notable ;  but  there  was  a 
generation  between  the  men ;  and  there  is  nothing  sur- 
prising in  the  fact  that  two  thus  separated  should  sever- 
ally have  had  some  hand  in  introducing  the  barbarians. 
In  detail,  the  stories  fall  apart  very  widely ;  Vortigern 
acts  partly  through  policy,  partly  through  love;  Ge- 
rontius through  malignant  jealousy.  Vortigern  invites 
the  Saxon,  by  the  advice  of  counsellors,  to  a  realm 
which  he  controls;  Gerontius  instigates  their  assault 
on  his  native  country  for  the  injury  done  him  by  its 
ruler.  Gerontius  never  enters  Britain  after  the  begin- 
ning of  his  treason ;  Vortigern  is  never  intentionally 
a  traitor,  and  never  goes  out  of  it.  Probably  the  idea 
would  not  have  suggested  itself  to  any  one  but  for  that 
fluent  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  who  was  never  at  a  loss 
to  eke  out  one  story  with  another. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  DAYS  OP  ROWENA. 

YORTIGEEN  must  have  been  ripe  in  age  as  well  as 
in  popularity  when  he  attained  the  sovereign  power,  for 
his  sons  were  leaders  of  men,  soon  after  Hengist  came ; 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  supremacy.  He 
must  have  commanded  with  ability,  for  the  northern 
marauders  withdrew,  and  the  land  was  free  to  breathe 
again.  He  seems  to  have  introduced  or  continued  a 
sort  of  parliament,  or  council  of  the  island.  "  All  the 
counsellors"  would  indicate  more  than  an  adviser  or 
two,  and  their  place  is  before  himself  in  the  passage. 

This  much  in  his  favor.  On  the  other  side  he  is 
charged  by  a  monkish  interpolator  of  the  original 
Nennius  with  the  shocking  offence  of  marrying  his 
own  daughter ;  but  this  probably  arises  from  confusion 
with  his  descendant  Vortipore,  against  whom  Gildas 
brings  the  same  indictment.  At  all  events,  there  is 
no  corroboration  whatever.  Probably  as  a  nominal 
Christian  who  allowed  the  devil  to  seduce  him  into 
wedlock  with  a  pagan  lady,  he  was  thought  quite  open 
to  suspicion.  The  Welsh,  with  a  more  patriotic  ill- 
will,  have  dubbed  him  "  Vortigern  of  the  repulsive 
mouth ;"  whereby  we  at  least  may  infer  that  he  was 
70 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       71 

not  conspicuous  for  manly  beauty.  But,  aside  from 
the  introduction  of  the  Saxons,  there  really  does  not 
seem  to  be  anything  definite  against  him.  And,  as 
already  shown,  this  cannot  be  laid  wholly  to  his  charge 
or  to  that  of  his  generation. 

Mr.  Pearson  wisely  observes  that  the  history  of  the 
southern  part  of  the  island  has  been  mistaken  for  the 
history  of  the  whole.  The  fortune  of  war  and  the 
chance  of  letters  made  this  inevitable.  A  single  writer 
(Gildas)  of  King  Arthur's  court,  escaping  from  that 
downfall  across  the  channel,  put  on  record  (A.D.  560) 
a  burst  of  stormy  invectives  which  embodies  our  nearest 
approach  to  a  contemporary  history  of  Vortigern's  day. 
A  school  of  Cumbrian  poets  (A.D.  550  to  600)  left 
their  stirring  battle-lays  by  imperfect  oral  transition  to 
be  gathered  and  written  down  in  a  more  literary  time. 
A  monk  (probably),  of  whom  we  know  nothing,  but 
who  may  have  been  Nennius  of  Bangor,  strung  to- 
gether (A.D.  600  to  700)  so  much  of  meagre  history 
and  impossible  legend  as  would  justify  "Historia  Bri- 
tonnum"  on  the  title-page.  To  this  various  additions 
of  less  authority  were  made  at  various  times  during  the 
next  four  centuries.  A  leading  subdivision  of  the  con- 
querors collected  and  embalmed  as  dry  chronicle  what- 
ever of  earlier  fact  was  yet  (A.D.  700  to  800)  extant  in 
memoranda  or  recital.  At  divers  times,  altogether 
uncertain,  but  probably  in  part  not  much  later,  the 


72       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

• 

Welsh,  for  similar  reasons,  embodied  their  national 
recollection  more  poetically  in  the  form  of  tales  and 
triads,  which  suffer  from  later  imitation  and  forgery, 
so  that  not  many  are  relied  on.  These,  with  some  later 
gleanings  in  the  field  of  tradition,  an.d  some  side-lights 
from  the  continent,  make  up  the  entire  array  of  our 
information.  Nearly  all  of  them  relate  chiefly  to  the 
southern,  southeastern,  and  southwestern  counties  of 
England;  or  are  so  uncertain  in  allusion  that  men 
quarrel  over  them  forever;  or  have  to  do  with  the 
North  after  the  dissolution  of  Arthur's  realm,  and  the 
upbuilding  of  that  of  Ida.  Of  the  earlier  independent 
British  North,  which  had  Isurium  and  the  cities  of 
the  wall  for  its  ornaments  and  Eboracum  for  its  heart 
and  capital,  we  can  hardly  be  said  to  know  anything 
definitely.  Yet  there  was  no  wealthier,  no  more  highly- 
civilized  region  in  the  whole  land  than  this  which  has 
left  no  record  of  its  tragical  passing  away. 

The  ignorance  of  Gildas  with  regard  to  it  was  so 
great  that  he  could  speak  of  Durham  and  Carlisle,  the 
great  human  buttresses  of  the  main  wall,  as%"some 
cities  (unnamed)  which  by  chance  had  been  built  there." 
But  he  had  other  and  graver  disqualifications.  Fanat- 
ically Christian,  fanatically  moral,  fanatically  Roman, 
he  could  see  nothing  good  in  the  semi-heathen  present, 
and  believe  nothing  good  of  the  Celt  in  the  past.  How 
far  this  blindness  could  carry  him  is  shown  in  his 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.        73 

diatribe  on  the  "  deceitful  lioness,"  who  dared  resent 
the  compliment  of  the  "  Roman  rods."  The  wild 
warriors,  who  all  but  conquered  with  her,  are  "  crafty 
foxes"  to  him.  It  would  be  interesting  to  hear  Gildas 
on  the  unreasonable  complaint  of  the  daughters  of 
Boadicea.  But  (there  being  soldiers  of  Rome  in  the 
episode)  he  lets  this  pass  in  silence,  our  furious  apostle 
of  purity ! 

With  Nennius  and  the  Chronicles,  the  bias  takes  a 
different  turn.  The  former  was  British  in  a  time  when 
the  early  virulent  divisions  had  died  away ;  the  latter 
were  the  work  of  Englishmen  who  had  outgrown  in 
part  the  love  of  slaughter,  but  felt  a  Celtic  foe  on  their 
frontier  still.  Neither  will  admit  very  much  in  favor 
of  the  other.  The  battles  are  victories  for  both  sides, 
or  passed  Lightly  over  by  the  one  which  lost.  Nennius 
knows  nothing  of  the  storming  of  Anderida.  The 
Saxons  have  no  direct  allusion  to  Mount  Badon. 

But,  all  the  more,  when  these  agree  in  the  main 
features  of  a  story  we  must  accept  that  story  as  true 
excepting  only  where  common  causes  would  distort 
every  one  alike.  This  agreement  establishes  that  the 
British  ruler,  being  menaced  by  the  northern  tribes, 
called  to  his  aid  the  marauders  of  the  German  Sea ; 
that  these  took  service  under  him  as  mercenaries,  and 
aided  in  beating  back  their  former  allies ;  that  in  re- 
ward they  secured  a  foothold,  where  reinforcements 


74       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

increased  their  numbers;  that  they  quarrelled  with 
their  employers,  took  up  the  more  familiar  rdle  of 
assailant  again,  and  finally  overran  a  great  part  of 
Britain. 

The  accounts  differ  in  detail  and  in  matter  of  em- 
bellishment ;  for  example,  as  to  whether  the  new  people 
were  invited  over  from  Germany  or  were  merely  de- 
scried sailing  along  the  coast  and  offered  by  Vortigern 
their  golden  opportunity ;  as  to  whether  there  was  or 
was  not  a  treacherous  massacre  of  the  British  leaders ; 
as  to  whether  the  southeastern  corner  of  the  island  was 
won  by  force  of  arms  or  by  intimidation  and  a  half- 
compulsory  treaty.  On  some  of  these  points  we  can 
pronounce  absolutely  in  favor  of  one  narrator  or 
another ;  and  in  nearly  every  instance  there  are  the 
means  of  giving  at  least  a  reasonable  guess  as  to  the 
truth.  In  the  minds  of  them  all  the  landing  at  Thanet 
and  the  long  struggle  to  reach  London  seem  to  have 
taken  a  disproportionate  place.  Just  thus,  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago,  the  dwellers  in  Washington  and 
Kichmond,  seeing  and  hearing  one  shattering  campaign 
after  another  in  the  battle-country  between  their  earth- 
works, found  it  hard  to  believe  that  the  war  was  not 
mainly  there.  Yet  meanwhile  a  great  section  of  a  con- 
tinent was  being  rent  away  from  the  losing  combatant, 
between  the  Appalachian  ridge  and  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  at  last  the  great  weight  of  the  conquerors 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       75 

came  crashing  through  the  narrow  neck  that  remained, 
quite  to  the  sea. 

If  we  give  Hengist  credit  for  design,  we  must  not 
suppose  him  so  improvident  as  to  begin  his  conquest 
only  at  the  very  tip  of  Kent,  with  the  all  but  impreg- 
nable fortresses  of  Richborough,  Reculver,  Rochester, 
and  London  staring  him  full  in  the  face.  If  we  sup- 
pose him  landing  at  first  in  good  faith,  to  fight  the 
invaders  from  beyond  the  wall,  we  are  equally  driven 
to  a  more  northerly  shore.  One  account  says,  we  know 
not  how  authoritatively,  that  the  Picts  had  reached 
Stamford  in  Lincolnshire,  probably  keeping  to  the  open 
country  between  the  cities  as  they  came ;  that  Hengist 
and  his  men  were  the  main  instruments  of  their  defeat 
near  that  place;  and  that  the  Saxon  leader  obtained 
by  stratagem  from  Vortigern  sufficient  land  for  a  forti- 
fied settlement  at  Thongcaster  on  that  coast.  This 
accords  so  well  with  the  needs  of  the  time  and  the 
natural  order  of  events  that  we  may  accept  it  without 
much  danger. 

At  any  rate,  if  the  Saxons  served  at  the  north  at  all, 
they  must  have  followed  their  retreating  enemy  through 
scenes  that  might  well  bewilder  them  with  beauty. 
The  wealth  of  Lindom,  of  York,  of  Isurium, — greater 
than  ever  for  the  time  by  the  sudden  concentration  of  all 
the  surrounding  country  within  those  walls, — must  have 
dazzled  them  and  tempted  them  beyond  bearing.  The 


76       THE   TWO   LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

pillared  rows,  the  bright  tessalse,  the  delicate  carven 
vine-work,  the  architectural  magnificence  and  splendor, 
may  have  been  wasted  on  them  in  a  measure,  but  left, 
no  doubt,  an  abiding  sense  of  illimitable  booty.  And 
where  the  naked  Scot  and  tattooed  savage  had  been  so 
nearly,  why  should  not  they  be,  in  turn,  conquerors  by 
a  double  conquest  ?  Back  to  their  lair  they  would  go 
with  fire  in  their  hearts  ;  and  no  payment  would  seem 
sufficient  for  its  placating.  This  northern  service 
afforded  probably  the  lure  which  drew  the  great  horde 
of  sea-faring  plunderers  into  Britain. 

But  there  was  no  breach  as  yet ;  it  may  be  no  con- 
scious intention  looking  that  way.  Hengist  and  Horsa 
had  deserved  well  of  the  island  empire,  and  were  allowed 
to  take  up  their  abode  not  very  far  from  the  capital ; 
indeed,  at  a  stone's-throw  from  its  main  port,  though 
cut  off  by  a  narrow  fortified  arm  of  the  sea.  With  the 
last  desolation  of  the  Pict,  Eboracum  surely  had  lost 
her  supremacy,  and  there  was  none  but  London  whereon 
the  mantle  could  fall.  At  London,  Hengist  would 
be  a  frequent  visitor,  with  wise  counsel  on  points  of 
war.  From  London,  Vortigern  could  set  out  with 
little  toil  for  relaxation  by  the  Wantsum  with  this  new 
right  arm  of  his  realm.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  con- 
vivial monarch,  and  susceptible  to  female  charms. 
We  all  know  the  story  of  how  these  together  overcame 
him. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       77 

But  it  was  a  high  price  every  way  that  he  paid  for 
Rowena.  His  own  adult  family,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
were  bitter  against  the  alliance,  and  from  what  followed 
it  seems  likely  that  many  of  his  Celtic  adherents  went 
with  them.  The  Romanizing  opposition  found  a  bril- 
liant young  leader  in  Ambrosius,  and  were  threatening 
rebellion.  The  Church  was  growling  and  thundering 
over  him.  Christian,  British,  and  Roman  indignation 
flashed  and  darkened  together  at  this  unheard-of 
yoking  with  the  intruding  heathen  savage.  But  it 
was  too  late  to  draw  back,  and  a  common  unpopularity 
bound  him  more  and  more  tightly  to  Hengist. 

The  latter  lost  no  time  in  strengthening  himself  by 
every  means.  Reinforcements  were  called  over  in 
alarming  numbers,  and  to  quiet  apprehension  were 
sent  north,  under  his  sons  Octa  and  Ebissa,  with  a 
vague  grant  of  lands  and  a  pretence  of  keeping  the 
Picts  in  check.  This  they  did,  incidentally  wasting 
the  Orkneys,  and  probably  reviving  some  confidence 
in  the  Britons  just  south  of  the  wall,  whom  they  re- 
lieved. Their  campaigns  were  probably  not  ended  in 
one  year,  nor  their  influx  with  the  first  wave,  since  we 
are  told  by  Nennius  that  they  "took  possession  of 
many  regions."  Most  likely  their  early  settlements 
came  straggling  from  Valentia  down  towards  their  old 
fastness  of  Thongcaster,  all  along  that  eastern  coast. 

Meanwhile,  the  Lincolnshire  settlement  was  no  doubt 


78       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

growing  also,  and  that  on  Thanet  overflowed  the  isle, 
emboldening  the  Saxon  leader  to  demand  the  over- 
lordship  or  kingship  of  Kent.  By  this  time  Vorti- 
gern  must  have  felt  sorely  bested,  but  he  could 
not  refuse  without  bringing  on  open  war;  so  he  ac- 
ceded, and  thereby  did  very  much  the  same  thing  in 
another  way.  For  this  gift  was  a  robbery. 

The  tumults  of  that  time  are  out  of  all  elucidation, 
but  we  learn  from  Nennius  that  Guoryangus,  the 
rightful  ruler  of  the  district,  was  in  "grief"  at  his 
dispossession.  This  would  hardly  have  been  recorded 
if  it  had  ended  there.  Probably  regret  became  active 
resistance.  In  much  the  same  fashion,  an  appendix 
gently  tells  us  of  "  the  quarrel  between  Ambrosius  and 
Guitolin  .  .  .  which  is  Guoloppum,  that  is,  Cat- 
gwaloph,"  i.e.,  the  battle  of  Wallop.  Sometimes  they 
understated,  and  sometimes  they  overstated,  in  the  olden 
time.  As  for  the  last-named  leader,  we  may  guess 
with  very  great  freedom.  Possibly  he  was  a  competitor 
for  the  countship  of  the  Saxon  shore.  So  says  one 
item  which  I  have  gathered,  authority  unknown.  Or 
the  ecclesiastical  account  of  him  already  given  may  be 
so  far  correct ;  and  perhaps  on  the  whole  this  is  most 
likely.  We  cannot  doubt  that  the  odium  theologicum 
was  by  this  time  very  near  the  crusading  point,  of 
course  with  some  leader. 

Besides  these  three  disturbing  elements,  there  prob- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       79 

ably  were  others.  Mr.  Green  is  inclined  to  believe  that 
a  general  rising  took  place  of  the  rural  and  urban  folk 
against  each  other.  Mr.  Pearson  goes  further,  making 
Vortigern  the  head  of  the  town  party,  and  Hengist 
and  Octa  its  very  especial  champions.  But  this  last 
deliverance  appears  to  be  a  freak  of  fancy,  for  every- 
thing goes  to  show  that  Vortigern  was  the  champion 
of  the  Celtic  party,  which  was  necessarily  weaker  in 
the  cities;  and  the  ashes  of  Isurium  bear  their  witness 
against  the  Saxon.  Yet  no  doubt  almost  any  kind  of 
disorder  may  have  been  afoot.  The  lawful  head  of 
the  country  had  gone  over  to  the  yet  undeclared  enemy, 
or  was  vibrating  between  friend  and  foe.  No  wonder 
Hengist  found  he  had  to  deal  with  a  "  fluctuating 
people !" 

We  can  easily  understand  how  this  state  of  affairs 
would  aid  in  another  way  to  bring  on  a  crisis.  The 
Saxons  come  as  mercenaries;  and  although  they  had 
been  granted  a  little  territory,  a  modicum  of  dominion, 
they  were  not  to  be  appeased  without  regular  rations 
and  increasing  pay.  On  the  other  hand,  their  pay- 
masters, who  might  have  to  fight  them  at  any  moment, 
must  have  found  the  tax  particularly  odious.  The 
power  of  withholding  supplies  will  lie  somewhere 
under  even  the  most  imperfect  government.  It  will 
surely  be  thought  of  as  a  weapon,  when  disagreement 
occurs  with  the  executive.  There  may  have  been 


80       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

more  than  one  day,  when  the  remoter  districts  with- 
held all  tribute ;  when  the  cities  in  the  Roman  inter- 
est and  the  centres  of  religious  life  angrily  refused  it ; 
when  the  council  of  Britain  declared  with  covert 
satisfaction  that  it  was  altogether  unable  to  replenish 
the  treasury ;  when  even  Vortimer,  the  darling  of  the 
Celt,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  in  a  very  emphatic  sense, 
came  forward  to  say  that  it  was  time  for  the  strangers 
to  be  gone. 

In  such  a  quarrel,  the  right  may  well  have  been 
with  each,  or  seemed  so  to  be.  To  the  Saxon,  the 
Briton  was  a  faithless  ingrate,  rightly  given  over  to 
destruction ;  an  effeminate  cumberer  of  the  earth ;  a 
noisy,  unstable  mixture  of  the  voluptuary  and  the 
pharisee.  What  the  Briton  thought  of  the  Saxon 
we  have  seen  in  Gildas  already.  The  outcome  is  in 
half  a  sentence  of  Ethel  ward, — "All  parties  fly  to 
arms,  the  Britons  give  way."  But  its  terseness  may 
easily  mislead. 

The  north  must  have  been  ill  prepared  after  its 
losses  by  foray.  When  the  word  came  to  Octa  and 
his  hardy,  hungry  raiders,  and  they  rushed  inland  from 
points  of  vantage  like  Scarborough  and  Flamborough, 
or  urged  their  oars  up  the  great  estuary  of  the  Hum- 
ber,  no  force  may  have  been  available  which  could 
hold  them  in  check,  unless  behind  the  walls  of  the 
larger  cities.  Quoting  Gildas,  "  The  fire  of  vengeance 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       81 

spread  from  sea  to  sea,  fed  by  the  hands  of  our  foes 
in  the  east,  and  did  not  cease  until,  destroying  the 
neighboring  towns  and  lands,  it  reached  the  other 
side  of  the  island  and  dipped  its  red  and  savage 
tongue  in  the  western  ocean."  If  this  were  not  at 
the  north,  where  was  it  ?  Unless  then  and  there,  the 
"  western  ocean"  was  not  reached  overland  by  the 
invaders  until  long  after  the  date  of  his  writing.  It 
is  possible  that  in  the  course  of  these  onsets  a  light 
party  might  occasionally  push  clear  across  the  waist 
of  the  island,  setting  a  few  western  villages  in  a 
blaze.  But,  perhaps,  it  is  more  likely  that  Gildas 
and  his  rhetoric  went  astray. 

It  was  not  the  work  of  one  season  nor  of  one  decade. 
Wave  after  wave  dashed  in  through  the  open  country 
and  withdrew,  or  settled  about  the  isolated  cities,  hold- 
ing them  in  leaguer.  At  last,  in  some  unguarded 
moment,  or  some  unusually  heavy  onfall,  the  defence 
gave  way — and  the  heathen  were  among  the  houses. 
Then  altars  were  overturned  ;  then  marble  columns 
were  hurled  from  their  pedestals  by  blow  on  blow 
of  the  battering-ram ;  then  the  great  mass  of  the 
basilica  and  the  towers  along  the  walls  came  crashing 
down;  then  fled  they  all  together,  " bishops,  priests, 
and  people,  whilst  the  sword  gleamed  and  the  flames 
crackled  around  them  on  every  side."  They  sought 
— when  they  might — the  wild  moorland  valleys  with 


82       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

cliff-caverns  looking  out  on  them ;  no  secure  hiding 
place  from  any  permanent  foe  who  knew  the  land, 
but  such  as  would  answer  their  turn  for  awhile  with 
the  soon  ebbing  sea-rovers. 

Here  with  their  short-horn  cattle  they  came,  their 
horses  tethered  on  the  grass  below,  their  sheep  and 
sheep-dogs,  their  weapons  and  jewelry,  and  all  that 
made  up  the  household  life  of  civilized  women  and 
men.  Not  once  only,  nor  in  a  single  party,  nor  from 
a  single  quarter,  nor  ever  for  long;  but  again  and 
again,  as  the  need  returned,  with  stores  varying  as 
their  condition  varied.  This  at  any  rate  seems  the 
most  plausible  explanation  of  the  diversity  in  the 
Victoria  cavern  relics.  I  cannot  believe  with  Mr. 
Green  that  this  unsuitable  asylum  was  clung  to  per- 
versely by  any  one  body  of  refugees,  until  their  pots 
and  spindles  gave  out  and  were  replaced  by  pitiful 
make-shifts,  and  they  lost  even  the  memory  of  the 
culture  from  which  they  came.  It  must  also  be  said 
that  he  has  set  far  too  late  a  date  for  the  beginning  of 
these  northern  conquests. 

Yet  we  may  well  admire  the  brilliant  application 
made  by  him  of  physical  geography  and  local  nomen- 
clature in  illustrating  the  dark  places  of  history. 
The  method  is  that  of  Dr.  Guest,  but  pursued  with 
a  greater  elaboration  of  detail  and  over  a  wider  area. 
Little  can  be  added  to  it,  at  least  in  the  present  state 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       83 

of  knowledge.  No  doubt  Lindsey  and  Holderness 
were  the  first  regions  to  be  overrun,  lying  as  they  do 
on  either  side  of  the  Hurnber,  that  great  portal  of  the 
north.  Derventio,  near  the  first  capital  and  main  set- 
tlement of  the  Deirans,  may  well  have  fallen  soon  after. 
Others  would  follow  here  and  there;  either  stormed 
and  entirely  laid  waste,  or  admitted  to  some  such 
composition  as  Mr.  Pearson  supposes, — that  is,  each 
allowed  to  live  on  more  or  less  according  to  its  old 
routine  with  a  watchful  Saxon  settlement  looking  in 
upon  it  from  some  neighboring  stockaded  hill.  But 
perhaps  they  had  hardly  secured  any  strong  position 
on  the  great  northern  way  before  the  first  reaction 
bore  them  back. 

At  the  south  the  field  is  limited ;  the  defences  are 
fairly  well  known ;  the  Chronicles  and  Nennius  contain 
fragmentary  records  of  the  events,  from  opposite  points 
of  view.  Gildas  is  silent,  but  then  he  could  hardly 
speak  without  magnifying  the  Celtic  Vortimer,  the 
right  arm  of  the  Britons. 

The  first  battle  mentioned  by  the  Saxons — with  the 
date  of  455 — was  fought  by  Hengist  and  Horsa  "  against 
Vortigern  in  the  plain  of  JEgelsthrep,"  which  Dr. 
Guest  identifies  with  the  lowest  ford  on  the  Medway. 
This  is  a  rather  long  march  from  Thanet,  but  the  doctor, 
himself  a  notable  pedestrian,  will  have  them  there  over 
land.  Mr.  Green,  accepting  this  hypothesis,  and  elab- 


84       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

orating  it  after  his  fashion,  has  given  us  a  fascinating 
panorama  of  the  campaign, — a  panorama  so  vivid  that 
it  ought  to  be  true !  We  see  the  fierce  ocean- warriors 
bursting  across  the  Wantsum  between  the  two  great 
fortresses ;  wading  the  marshes  of  the  Stour  under  the 
rain  of  missiles  from  the  doomed  walls  of  Durovernum  ; 
clambering  the  woody  heights  of  Blean  with  the  blaze 
of  the  city  far  behind  them  and  the  whole  panic-stricken 
country-side  rushing  wildly  on  ahead ;  forcing  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Medway,  where  the  British  imperator  has 
hurriedly  taken  his  stand  for  the  salvation  of  West 
Kent;  driving  the  fight  up  doggedly  through  the 
village  of  Aylesford,  till  Horsa  and  Categirn  fall 
(some  say  in  single  fight)  and  the  Saxons  halt  on  the 
ground  they  have  won,  raising  Hengist  with  acclaim 
in  full  form  to  be  their  king. 

But,  excepting  the  outcome,  this  can  hardly  have 
been  so.  The  story  assumes  too  hastily  that  there  were 
no  Saxon  defeats  before  the  first  Saxon  victory.  Nen- 
nius,  in  what  is  probably  the  oldest  part  of  the  work, 
declares,  "At  length  Vortimer,  the  son  of  Vortigern, 
valiantly  fought  against  Hengist,  Horsa,  and  his  people ; 
drove  them  to  the  isle  of  Thanet,  and  thrice  enclosed 
them  (that  is,  no  doubt,  triple-walled  them)  within  it, 
and  beset  them  on  the  western  side."  He  repeats,  also, 
with  detail,  "  Four  times  did  Vortimer  valorously  en- 
counter the  enemy.  The  first  has  been  mentioned,  the 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       85 

second  was  upon  the  river  Darent,  the  third  at  the  Ford, 
in  their  language  called  Eppsford,  though  in  ours  Set- 
thirgabail ;  the  fourth  battle  he  fought  was  near  the 
stone  on  the  shore  of  the  Gallic  sea,  where  the  Saxons, 
being  defeated,  fled  to  their  ships." 

This  last  entry  is  in  itself  a  refutation  of  an  error 
common  to  nearly  all  writers  on  the  subject, — they 
tacitly  assuming  that  the  sea-kings  had  already  for- 
saken the  sea.  In  point  of  fact,  the  Saxon  endeavors 
were  more  often  by  water  than  by  land  for  the  next 
hundred  years.  Especially  must  this  have  been  the 
case  with  such  a  region  as  the  Caint,  having  a  water- 
front for  more  than  half  its  boundary  and  water-courses 
opening  here  and  there  into  its  very  .heart. 

If  we  assume  London  to  have  been  his  immediate 
objective,  the  theory  is  even  less  plausible.  By  the 
admission  of  his  enemy,  Hengist  "  united  craft  and 
penetration."  Are  we  then  to  believe  that  he  neg- 
lected the  most  obvious  expedients  of  generalship? 
Why  should  he  incur  the  fearful  hazard  of  crossing  a 
navigable  strait  between  two  hostile  fortresses  with  a 
strong  force  in  his  front,  while  the  whole  seaward  face 
of  his  island  lay  open  and  the  mouth  of  the  Thames 
lay  open  too  ?  However  it  might  be  on  shore,  he  had 
absolute  command  of  the  water.  Both  habit  and  cir- 
cumstance made  it  his  most  natural  means  of  transpor- 
tation. 

8 


86       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

But  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  very  little  transportation  was  needed. 
He  may  have  been  in  peaceable  possession  of  the 
country  as  far  as  the  Medway,  under  Vortigern's  ir- 
regular cession.  When  Hengist  found  himself,  by 
imperial  grant,  the  sovereign  of  all  Kent,  he  was  hardly 
the  man  to  let  it  remain  a  title  only.  We  are  told  by 
Nennius  that  "  Hengist  continued  by  degrees  sending 
for  ships  from  his  own  country  .  .  .  and,"  seemingly 
as  a  result,  "  whilst  his  people  were  increasing  in  power 
and  number  they  came  to  the  above-named  province 
of  Kent."  Where  was  he  before  the  later  accessions  ? 
In  Thanet,  evidently.  It  had  been  severed  from  Kent 
of  the  mainland  both  by  nature  and  by  treaty.  To 
this  mainland  Kent  the  overflow  must  have  been 
directed ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that  he  would  push  the 
work  of  peaceful  occupancy  as  fast  and  as  far  as  the 
Britons  would  let  him.  Even  if  there  were  to  be  a 
war,  this  might  well  seem  his  wisest  policy. 

The  frontier  cities,  in  their  bewilderment,  would  at 
fi^st  be  glad  to  make  some  compensation ;  some  ac- 
knowledgment of  him  as  their  overlord  in  return  for 
the  assurance  of  safety.  The  partial  destruction  of 
Durovernum,  indicated  by  Mr.  Green,  may  seem  to 
make  against  this  theory ;  but  it  need  not  have  occurred 
until  later,  when  there  was  ample  opportunity  and 
provocation,  as  we  shall  see.  Moreover,  Mr.  Pearson 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       87 

lias  pointed  out  that  the  town  (under  the  name  of 
Canterbury)  still  inherits  much  of  privilege  and  organ- 
ization from  this  earlier  day.  He  tells  us  the  same  of 
Eochester  and  other  places  in  East  Kent.  Certainly, 
facts  like  these  point  to  survival  by  compromise;  just 
as  the  custom  of  gavelkind  points  to  an  unwarlike 
surrender  by  the  Kentish  Saxon,  long  afterwards. 

Very  likely,  though,  his  new  authority  had  become 
irksome  to  the  people,  even  before  Vortimer  openly 
withstood  or  assailed  him.  In  that  case,  its  collapse 
would  follow  soon.  Whichever  side  took  the  offensive, 
the  first  battle  was  a  defeat  for  Hengist,  probably  in 
the  eastern  part  of  West  Kent,  the  scene  of  so  many 
later  struggles.  A  general  rising  of  the  country 
already  occupied  would  aid  in  throwing  him  back  upon 
his  island  lair.  The  oval  walls  of  Durovernum  would 
refuse  him  admittance  and  send  forth  parties  to  harass 
the  flank  of  his  retreat.  The  dispossessed  Guorang  (to 
accept  the  more  manageable  version  of  that  name)  would 
hurry  to  take  part  in  the  lively  chase.  The  watchful 
Eoman-Britons  of  Rutupise  and  Reculver  would  cross 
their  spears  from  side  to  side  before  the  deep  natural 
fosse  which  cut  his  line  of  escape.  It  is  probable  that 
he  worf  temporary  safety  only  by  bursting  through 
them  into  Thanet  with  heavy  loss.  He  cannot  have 
saved  more  than  a  part  of  the  mainland  settlers.  Then 
came  Vortimer  with  his  men ;  and  the  three  great  lines 


88       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

of  earthwork  were  thrown  up,  reaching,  no  doubt,  from 
the  one  fortress  to  the  other.  With  the  Wantsum  of 
that  day  for  a  moat,  and  a  British  army  behind  them 
elate  with  victory,  these  triple  fortifications  may  well 
have  seemed,  and  have  been,  impregnable  to  the  in- 
vader. He  had  good  cause  'to  tremble  for  even  his 
last  foothold  in  southern  Britain. 

Such  is  a  conjectural  outline  of  the  first  campaign, 
of  which  we  find  on  record  little  more  than  the  causes 
and  the  ending.  I  claim  for  it  only  more  complete 
harmony  with  all  our  information  than  any  preceding 
theory. 

Of  course,  in  his  calamity  he  would  send  for  all 
available  reinforcements;  calling,  for  example,  every 
man  who  could  be  spared  from  the  more  prosperous 
forces  at  the  north.  As  his  strength  grew  again,  his 
aggressive  confidence  revived.  Moreover,  he  had  too 
many  men  for  his  little  island.  Of  this  they  would 
not  fail  to  remind  him.  Nor  would  they  be  content 
for  their  ships  (or  long-boats  as  we  should  call  them 
now)  to  be  idle,  knowing  full  well  that  the  Britons 
were  no  match  for  them  on  the  water.  Vortimer 
must  have  had  some  sort  of  flotilla,  but  it  probably 
retreated  up  the  Thames,  towards  London,  when  the 
enemy  drew  near,  and  closed  the  channel  in  some  way 
behind  it  at  the  first  narrowing  of  the  river.  This  was 
the  natural  thing  to  do,  if  time  allowed.  It  would 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       89 

compel  the  landing  of  Hengist  on  the  Kent  shore  then 
and  there,  which  seemingly  was  just  what  happened. 

But  once  ashore  the  chances  were  against  him. 
Vortimer  hastened  back  from  Butupise  to  head  him 
off,  or  sallied  from  the  capital  with  the  forces  gathered 
there.  Hengist  may  have  found  himself  between  two 
fires.  At  any  rate,  he  could  not  carry  the  first  line  of 
defence  that  crossed  his  way.  Somewhere  along  the 
little  river  Darent,  the  Celt  and  the  Teuton,  as  we  call 
them,  came  to  spear-thrust  and  sword-play  until  the 
invader  sullenly  withdrew.  His  fleet  most  likely  bore 
him  to  his  earthworks  in  Thanet  again. 

We  cannot  suppose  that  Vortimer,  twice  victor  in 
Kent,  would  remain  quiescent  thereafter.  The  north, 
worn  and  harried  by  repeated  inroads,  and  ill  organized 
for  struggling  against  them,  must  have  called  him, 
surely  not  without  response.  The  first  great  rally  of 
the  Britons,  under  his  leadership,  may  have  beaten 
back  the  Anglo-Saxons  well  eastward  of  the  great  lines 
of  communication.  If  London  were  to  be  really  the 
seat  of  government  for  the  island,  he  must  keep  these 
under  his  hand  at  any  cost.  Perhaps  he  made  Octa 
as  much  a  prisoner  in  Holderness  and  the  lowlands  of 
Lincolnshire  and  the  waste  country  north  of  Durham 
as  Hengist  himself  was  in  the  insular  tip  of  Kent. 
No  doubt,  also,  he  appeased  contention  within  the  land. 
Even  the  Eoman  faction  may  have  begun  to  feel  some 


90       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

hope  in  the  reigning  dynasty.  A  monkish  legend, 
inserted  in  one  version  of  Nennius,  represents  Vortimer 
as  even  humiliating  himself  to  conciliate  the  Church 
that  his  father  had  angered.  On  the  other  side,  even 
that  father  was  obliged  to  become  active  in  patriotic 
duty.  The  next  contest,  by  the  Saxon  account,  was 
with  Vortigern  himself;  but  this  probably  means  no 
more  than  nominal  leadership,  for  Nennius  explicitly 
awards  the  honor  of  victory  to  his  more  heroic  son. 

This  is  the  fight  near  Aylesford,  with  which  Dr. 
Guest  and  Mr.  Green  have  begun.  There  may  be  fair 
excuse  for  doing  so,  in  the  prominence  that  each  side 
has  given  it,  and  in  the  results  immediately  following. 

Hengist  was  afloat  again  with  a  mighty  company  in 
that  year,  A.D.  455.  He  took  the  old  course,  for  it 
was  the  only  one  towards  London  which  he  could  take 
sanely.  The  Essex  shore  presented  a  waste  of  marshes 
and  lagoons  at  that  day,  where  his  advancing  forces 
might  be  taken  at  disadvantage  and  cut  off  to  a  man. 
The  river,  of  course,  was  no  longer  open.  Probably 
Vortimer  had  found  means  to  block  the  channel  at  an 
even  lower  point  than  before.  At  any  rate,  Hengist 
evidently  took  to  land  on  the  Kent  side  before  reach- 
ing the  mouth  of  the  Medway. 

Turning  southward  from  Rochester,  which  he  had 
no  time  to  trifle  with,  he  came  face  to  face  with  his 
enemy  in  great  force  at  the  first  passage  of  the  stream. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       91 

It  must  have  been  a  very  obstinately  contested  conflict. 
Each  army  lost  a  noted  chief,  a  brother  of  its  com- 
mander. Each  claimed  the  victory.  The  assailants 
made  Hengist  king  of  Kent,  by  some  rude  coronation, 
on  the  field  which  he  had  won.  The  defenders  gave 
it  the  name  "  Sassanseg  habsel," — the  slaughter  of  the 
Saxons, — and  set  down  one  more  triumph  to  the  ac- 
count of  Vortimer.  The  former  were  right,  in  so  far 
as  the  position  of  their  enemy  had  been  carried,  and 
that  enemy  driven  back.  The  latter  were  right,  in  so 
far  as  the  main  design  of  Hengist  was  thwarted.  This 
time,  nevertheless,  he  maintained  his  footing  on  the 
border  of  West  Kent,  and  probably  reduced  a  part  of 
the  country  behind  him. 

Of  course  there  would  be  frequent  skirmishing  be- 
tween his  people,  in  their  two  isolated  possessions  by 
the  Wantsum  and  the  Medway,  and  the  string  of  angry 
hornet-nests  along  the  shore, — Dover  and  Lyme,  Eecul- 
ver  and  Richborough.  Of  course,  too,  at  the  north 
warfare  must  have  been  awake  again.  Yet  two  years 
went  by  before  he  felt  strong  enough  to  attack  once 
more  the  army  which  covered  London. 

This  time  he  had  not  far  to  go.  There  may  have 
been  opposition,  as  before,  at  the  passing  of  the  Darent ; 
but  the  main  battle  is  believed  to  have  been  on  the 
Cray,  "a  little  stream  which  falls  through  a  quiet 
valley  from  the  chalk  downs,  hard  by  at  Orpington/' 


92       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

There  was  no  quiet  on  this  little  stream  that  day. 
Four  thousand  British  corpses  were  strewn  about  the 
valley,  during  the  havoc  of  fight  and  flight,  and  also 
well  over  the  Middlesex  marshes  towards  Southwark. 
The  Saxon  Chronicle  tells  us  of  the  fear  with  which  the 
routed  forces  fled  into  London ;  Ethelward  repeats  the 
story  a  little  more  mildly ;  even  Nennius  bears  witness 
to  it  by  his  silence. 

Yet,  for  some  reason,  the  victor  did  not  pursue  his 
advantage.  London  was  not  captured,  or  we  should 
have  heard  thereof.  It  was  indeed  all  but  impregnable 
if  adequately  manned.  Nor  could  men  and  weapons 
long  be  wanting.  No  doubt  a  great  cry  for  aid  was 
answered  by  the  gleam  of  spear-heads  on  every  foot  of 
the  wall.  No  doubt,  also,  the  British  forces  under 
Vortimer  soon  took  the  offensive  again.  Mr.  Green 
points  out  that  the  lost  ground  was  all  very  quickly 
regained.  The  steps  we  can  only  infer, — an  Assault  on 
the  Saxon  here,  a  dislodgement  there,  a  probable  cut- 
ting off  from  the  Thames,  a  distressful  retreat  across 
the  body  of  the  Caint,  with  a  swarm  of  enemies  hover- 
ing and  darting  in  about  the  flanks  and  rear,  a  long 
disastrous  campaign  of  which  Nennius,  after  his  usual 
fashion,  gives  us  only  the  sequel,  "  on  the  shore  of  the 
Gallic  sea."  No  doubt  Thanet  was  quite  large  enough 
again  for  the  men  of  Hengist.  Just  across  the  strait, 
Vortimer  ever  sat  watching,  and  when,  after  a  short 


I  UNIVERSITY  1 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

interval,  he  sickened  and  died,  he  was  buried  at  Ru- 
tupiae,  the  main  port  of  London,  that,  dead  or  living, 
his  eye  should  be  on  them  still. 

But  Nennius  will  have  it  that  more  than  this  had 
been  on  his  mind.  "  Anxious  for  the  future  prosperity 
of  his  country,  he  charged  his  friends  to  inter  his  body 
at  the  entrance  of  the  Saxon  port, — viz.,  upon  the  rock 
where  the  Saxons  first  landed  ;  '  for  though/  said  he, 
'  they  may  inhabit  other  parts  of  Britain,  yet,  if  you 
follow  my  commands,  they  will  never  remain  in  this 
island.' r  According  to  Ethelward,  this  landing-place 
was  Wipped's-fleet,  on  the  isle  of  Thanet.  Nor  can 
"  this  island"  have  any  other  meaping. 

His  dying  request,  if  real,  may  have  more  wisdom 
in  it  than  is  on  the  surface  now.  It  called  for  no  less 
than  the  dislodgement  of  the  foreigners  from  their  last 
foothold,  and  its  permanent  occupancy  as  his  sepulchre. 
He  may  have  relied  on  the  intensity  of  his  followers' 
devotion  for  one  final  onslaught  which  nothing  could 
withstand ;  and  for  a  long  guardianship,  making  one 
bit  of  British  soil  invincible. 

Again  the  meaning — the  after-thought  of  a  later  time 
— may  be  that  so  solemn  an  appropriation  would  pre- 
vent, all  revelry  there.  For,  be  it  known  that  "Wip- 
ped's-fleet  became  the  scene  of  the  murderous  feast 
of  the  long  knives. 

Whatever  the  intention,  it  was  not  carried  into  effect. 


94       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Perhaps  the  sea-folk  were  too  grim,  as  they  stood  on 
the  last  fringe  of  the  land,  very  desperately  at  bay. 
Perhaps  Vortigern  was  wrought  upon  through  Rowena, 
since  an  apochryphal  triad  tells  us  that  to  please  her 
he  even  made  exposure  of  his  dead  heroic  son.  There 
was  some  falling  short,  at  any  rate.  "  They  impru- 
dently disobeyed  his  last  injunction,  and  neglected  to 
bury  him  where  he  had  appointed."  Yet  the  Saxon 
may  have  had  a  brisk  alarm ;  for  he  was  "strengthened 
by  new  accessions,"  "  assisted  by  foreign  pagans,"  and 
"  firmly  incorporated"  in  the  island  he  had  been  so 
near  leaving.  He  "  collected  his  ships  and  consulted 
by  what  strategem  they  might  overcome  Vortigern  and 
his  army." 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE   PRINCE   OF  THE  SANCTUARY. 

HENCHST  may  well  have  felt  that  his  opportunity 
had  come.  For  years  he  had  been  crashing  pain- 
fully against  a  resistance  which  gave  way  now  a  little, 
now  not  at  all,  but  invariably  in  the  end  beat  him 
back.  The  campaigns  which  he  inaugurated  were  only 
a  means  of  educating  his  enemies.  He  had  trained 
them ;  he  had  hardened  them ;  he  saw  them  contin- 
ually before  him,  a  force  in  every  way  more  than  equal 
to  his  own.  But,  besides  himself,  he  must  thank  for 
this  the  will,  the  skill,  and  the  daring  which  taught 
them  at  the  first  how  to  make  good  their  stand.  In 
the  wavering  that  had  been  already,  it  was  plainly  to 
be  seen  that  "  Guorthemer  of  blessed  memory"  was 
indeed  only  a  memory  now.  The  life  of  the  British 
army  lay  in  the  cluster  of  chieftains  who  had  fought 
so  long  under  him  and  still  maintained  his  tradition 
of  leadership.  Panic  and  paralysis  would  follow,  if 
these  could  be  tempted  aside  and  suddenly  swept  away. 

The  tale  of  that  fatal  banquet,  though  often  doubted, 
is  probably  true.  The  same  thing  had  been  done  in 
Thuringia,  and  even  on  a  lesser  scale,  by  Roman  gen- 

95 


96       THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

erals.  It  has  been  repeated,  with  slight  modification, 
by  Western  frontiersmen  of  our  own  day.  Precedents 
are  incentives — to  a  fifth-century  pirate,  in  no  very  great 
need  of  them.  If  we  are  to  disbelieve  everything 
monstrous,  we  must  throw  away  history  and  the  news- 
papers together.  The  earlier  facts  or  legends  that 
have  been  thought  to  give  a  mythical  air  to  the  story 
are  really  its  corroboration.  In  later  times  it  was 
placed  at  Stonehenge, — erroneously,  for  nothing  could 
have  taken  Hengist  there  ;  but  Nennius  does  not  men- 
tion that  place.  Perhaps  the  slaughter,  long  afterwards, 
of  Natanleod  and  his  five  thousand  may  have  led  Geof- 
frey and  others  astray. 

As  Yortigern  and  his  nobles  came  by  invitation,  the 
banquet  must  have  been  set  on  the  isle  of  Thanet. 
"Wipped's-fleet,  where  the  Saxon  first  landed,  would  be 
as  likely  a  place  as  any.  Perhaps  it  was  the  centre  of 
their  encampment  and  defence,  now  that  Vortimer  had 
marked  it  out  by  a  death-bed  menace.  According  to 
Ethelward,  in  465  "there  was  a  great  slaughter  made 
on  that  day ;  twelve  chiefs  of  the  Britons  fell  near  a 
place  called  Wipped's-fleet ;  there  fell  a  soldier  of  the 
Saxons  called  Wipped  I"  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  great 
difference  between  this  dozen  and  the  three  hundred 
nobles  or  elders  of  Nennius.  But  the  one  may  have 
had  in  view  the  commanders  only ;  the  other,  every 
minor  chief  also  who  had  been  invited  to  his  death. 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       97 

In  each  account  it  falls  into  the  same  sequence  of  events, 
and  the  outcome  also  is  the  same. 

We  can  see  it  all  even  yet, — the  Saxon  embassy 
offering  peace,  with  the  good  things  of  reconciliation  ; 
the  ready  acceptance  by  a  too  convivial  crew;  the 
friendly  crossing  of  the  Wantsum  to  welcoming  hands ; 
the  long  hall  of  Hengist,  double-lined  with  revellers, 
— every  second  man  trustful  and  careless,  every  man 
between  with  a  dagger  up  his  sleeve ;  the  sudden  pre- 
concerted brawl ;  the  knife-cry  of  Hengist, — "  Nimed 
eure  sexa ;"  the  up-flashing  and  down-darting  of  the  keen 
bronze  or  steel ;  the  shrieks,  the  groans,  the  struggling 
cries ;  the  one  or  two  mighty  Britons  who  did  not 
die  breaking  frantically  from*  the  shambles  amid  all 
the  din!  Then  the  sudden  rush  on  the  leaderless 
British  army;  its  flight,  horror-stricken,  as  from 
demons  rather  than  men  !  And  so  Kent,  after  thirteen 
years  of  battle,  was  lost  by  murderous  treachery  to  the 
Briton  forever. 

But  even  then  Hengist  could  get  no  further.  Pos- 
sibly, as  Nennius  relates,  he  may  have  extorted  from 
Vortigern,  his  captive,  a  cession  of  Essex,  Sussex,  and 
Middlesex;  but  it  was  not  recognized  outside  of  the 
Saxon  camp,  and  every  rood  of  that  territory  must  be 
fought  for  or  left  unwon.  Even  within  Kent  itself 
there  were  many  islets  of  hostile  area.  One  by  one  the 
inland  cities  would  be  brought  back  with  a  wrench  to 

E        g  9 


98       THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

their  subjection  or  fall  before  his  vengeance,  and  after 
them  the  great  Roman  fortresses  of  the  coast-line ;  but 
this  may  have  taken  many  years.  Rutupiaa  (Rich- 
borough)  very  likely  outlasted  him,  as  London  cer- 
tainly did,  although  so  near. 

Meanwhile,  a  formidable  enemy  was  growing  in  the 
west.  By  a  stroke  of  policy,  Hengist  freed  Vortigern 
and  sent  him  thither,  to  take  off  the  first  edge  of  the 
steel.  It  is  a  pity  that  we  know  so  little  of  the  second 
great  champion  on  the  British  side.  His  name  would 
seem  to  have  been  Ambrose  (Welsh,  Emrys),  Latinized 
into  Ambrosius,  with  the  titular  addition  Aurelianus, 
or,  as  prefix,  Aurelius.  He  may  have  been,  as  some 
say,  heir  to  a  princedom  in  Devon ;  or,  as  Dr.  Guest 
believed,  a  son  of  that  ill-fated  Csesar,  Constans,  who 
left  a  monastery  for  the  grave.  Legend  favors  the 
latter  theory;  so  did  the  general  opinion  of  former 
times.  Gildas  declares  that  his  parents  were  adorned 
with  the  purple;  and  this  may  have  some  weight, 
although  approval  of  that  hue  was  by  no  means  ex- 
clusively imperial  in  his  time.  Nennius  makes  him 
claim  descent  from  a  Roman  "  consul,"  a  term  which 
would  fit,  when  thus  written,  almost  any  potentate  or 
official  except  the  very  lowest.  Professor  Rhys  sug- 
gests that  he  may  have  been  related  to  Nectarides, 
Count  of  the  Saxon  Shore,  who  was  slain  in  the  time 
of  Theodosius.  But  this  seems  to  be  a  groundless 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.       99 

conjecture.  The  evident  enthusiasm  of  the  Roman 
party  for  him,  with  some  coincidences  of  years  and 
names,  will  incline  our  judgment,  although  doubtfully, 
towards  the  descent  through  the  second  Constantine. 
But,  however  it  may  be  with  regard  to  his  birth,  we 
cannot  doubt  that  he  had  an  imperial  nature. 

Nennius — or  more  probably  an  interpolator  of  the 
tenth  century — brings  him  before  us  in  a  wild  romance 
of  magic,  oddly  confused  as  to  identity  with  his  in- 
spired counsellor  and  bard.  The  tale  would  seem  to 
have  long  floated  in  the  popular  mind  before  taking 
this  written  form.  It  is  the  first  appearance  of  a  theme 
very  fertile  in  Welsh  literature, — the  prophecies  of 
Merlin.  It  puts  Ambrose  before  us — and  no  other 
British  leader — with  the  title  of  emperor.  The  mirac- 
ulous part,  half  Christian,  half  druidical,  may  safely 
be  set  down  to  the  great  master  of  enchantment, — the 
wall  supernaturally  overthrown  as  often  as  reared;  the 
ordained  sacrifice  of  a  son  having  no  earthly  father, 
his  youthful  wisdom  confounding  the  elders ;  the  re- 
vealing of  that  fantastic  underworld,  where  the  two 
dragons  of  the  isle  maintain  their  age-long  combat 
until  the  hour  when  the  Cymry  shall  fully  regain 
their  own.  Is  this  indeed  more  than  a  prose  tran- 
scription of  some  poem  by  Merlin  himself?  It  is  not 
among  those  ascribed  to  him  ;  but  there  may  have  been 
many  which  no  longer  survive  in  metrical  form. 


100     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

The  passages  referring  to  the  age  of  the  expounder 
would  probably  indicate  the  cause  of  the  confusion  of 
persons.  The  statement  of  territorial  cession  must 
mean  a  cession  to  Ambrose,  and  to  him  only.  Vorti- 
gern  thereby  surrenders  "  that  city  and  all  the  western 
provinces  of  Britain." 

This  narrative  hints  at  one  of  those  odd  Celtic  trans- 
actions, wherein  priestly  art  and  the  credulity  of  princes 
were  given  a  political  value.  In  part  they  represent 
the  druidical  power  surviving  or  reviving  in  new  trap- 
pings and  under  another  name.  Generations  later,  the 
same  agency  was  at  work  in  establishing  the  supremacy 
of  Maelgwn.  *The  present  instance  has  the  air  of  a 
trial  of  skill  between  Vortigern's  half-pagan  wise  men 
and  the  Christian  miracle-workers.  The  latter  must 
have  seen  their  best  hope  in  the  ascendency  of  Ambrose. 

Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  romances  differently.  He 
brings  the  son  of  Constans  over  the  channel,  to  avenge, 
for  one  thing,  the  murder  of  his  father,  which  nobody 
then  in  Britain  had  committed.  In  "  the  plot  of  the 
long  knives"  Ambrose  had  no  doubt  a  very  adequate 
provocation  ;  but  even  of  this  the  news  came  to  him 
through  a  preternatural  figure, —  "Eldol,  Duke  of 
Gloucester,"  who  shattered  his  way  stake  in  hand  out 
of  the  fatal  banquet-hall  over  the  dead  bodies  of  sev- 
enty armed  Saxons.  We  do  not  learn  how  he  came  by 
a  title  from  Vortigern's  own  city.  But  he  may  stand 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q1 

*'..;- 

for  some  real  fugitive  who  brought  the  dreadful  truth, 
as  an  eye-witness,  to  the  Devonian  legions  of  Ambrose.       * 

Their  outcry  of  horror  and  execration  has  not  ceased 
its  echo  even  yet.  We  can  form  some  idea  of  what  it 
must  have  been.  The  men  in  whom  the  Britons  con- 
fided— the  fortress  commanders,  the  daring  mountain 
chiefs,  the  lieutenants  on  whom  had  fallen  the  mantle 
of  their  dead  Vortimer — all  by  one  damnable  and 
heartless  treason  were  laid  low.  Slain  by  the  hands 
that  offered  friendship  and  food !  If  the  disaster 
really  were  less,  rumor  would  magnify  it.  The  crime 
it  could  not  magnify.  And  their  ruler  Vortigern,  the 
husband  of  the  Saxon  woman,  bound  by  a  double 
alliance,  was  seemingly  consenting  thereto.  Suspected 
already,  the  mere  sparing  of  his  life  might  well  be  put 
in  evidence  against  him.  The  north  was  probably 
once  more  in  a  life  and  death  struggle  against  Octa ; 
but  all  the  western  Britons  may  have  come  angrily 
surging  towards  London  with  the  Roman  leader  at  their 
head. 

Vortigern  can  hardly  have  been  in  favor  with  any 
great  portion  of  his  people ;  but  there  were  those  who 
adhered  to  him  and  went  out  to  the  fight.  Some  may 
have  come,  with  the  retainer  feeling,  from  the  province 
which  he  inherited.  Some,  benefiting  by  his  court  and 
patronage,  were  in  dread  of  any  change.  A  few  may 
have  loved  him  personally  or  hated  the  Roman  faction 

9* 


102     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

worse  than  any  invader.  Out  of  the  Saxon  clutches 
and  in  extreme  need  of  partisans,  Vortigern  could  vie 
with  any  in  wrathful  abhorrence  of  the  massacre ;  he 
could  repudiate  his  enforced  concession ;  he  could  de- 
clare for  vengeance  as  soon  as  the  domestic  enemy 
should  be  out  of  the  way. 

If  we  believe  the  triad,  he  went  even  further  in  con- 
ciliation. Then,  or  thereafter,  seemingly  by  a  partial 
abdication,  he  left  the  kingdom  of  London  to  his  young 
son  Gotta  by  Eowena  (Alis  Ronwen),  "  wherefore  the 
kings  of  London  are  called  sons  of  Alis."  It  is  un- 
certain authority,  but  derives  some  support  from  the 
fact  that  we  hear  so  little  of  London  in  the  time  of 
Ambrose  and  Arthur,  and  from  the  independent  atti- 
tude of  the  city  during  the  Saxon  sway.  According 
to  Dr.  Freeman,  London,  though  acknowledging  one 
sovereignty  or  another,  "  seems  to  have  held  her  own  as 
a  distinct  power  ...  a  free  imperial  city,  bearing  rule, 
like  Berne  or  Venice,  over  her  Unterthaner,  the  still 
subject  district  of  the  Middle  Saxons." 

By  such  or  other  means,  and  from  these  or  other 
sources,  an  army  was  brought  together  and  moved 
westward  into  the  Gwent  or  open  upland  north  of  the 
Andred-wood.  Probably  Winchester,  the  great  city 
of  that  region,  was  his  first  object.  With  or  without 
battle,  this  was  won ;  and  they  marched  onward  over 
three-fourths  of  the  way  towards  the  strong  post  of 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q3 

Sorbiodunum.  Ambrose  and  his  men  were  there 
already  in  force,  but  came  out  to  meet  them  at  the 
Wallop-fields.  Then  and  there  was  fought  "Cat- 
gualoph,"  the  battle  of  Wallop,  which  broke  the  power 
of  Vortigern  so  utterly  that  the  word  is  a  provincial 
synonyme  for  a  thrashing  to  this  day. 

Dr.  Guest  has  fixed  the  locality.  Nennius  makes 
the  time  "  twelve  years  from  the  reign  of  Vortigern/' 
who  may  have  been  considered  as  superseded  by  Vor- 
timer  after  the  defeat  near  Aylesford.  This  would 
bring  us  to  467,  about  two  years  after  the  massacre  at 
WippedVfleet,  a  most  unlikely  interval.  Other  esti- 
mates prefer  A.D.  463  for  the  accession  of  Ambrose; 
and  he  may  have  claimed  the  imperial  purple  then. 
But  after  this  great  victory,  if  not  before,  he  became 
Embres  Guledig  to  the  Celtic  Briton,  Aurelius  Ambro- 
sius  to  the  Roman.  Guitolin  may  have  opposed  his 
authority,  or  may  have  fought  under  him.  This  must 
remain  obscure.  There  is  no  definite  account  of  any 
opposition.  He  may  have  tolerated  the  son  of  Vorti- 
gern as  a  half-independent  sub-king  in  what  was  even 
yet  the  metropolis,  and  the  far  northern  armies  may 
not  even  nominally  have  accepted  his  command.  But 
he  was  the  one  man  who  might  claim  with  show  of 
reason  to  be  the  ruler  of  Britain. 

Vortigern  vanishes  in  the  mist  of  the  Welsh  moun- 
tains. The  Nennius  expanders  give  us  a  liberal  choice 


104     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

of  extravagances.  Either  he  was  worried  from  place 
to  place  by  St.  Germanus  and  all  the  British  clergy, 
praying  continuously  forty  days  together  for  his  sins, 
until  fire  from  Heaven  mercifully  put  an  end  to  his  tor- 
ment, or  they  merely  shamed  him  out  of  all  happiness 
in  living,  until,  "  deserted  and  a  wanderer  .  .  ,  broken- 
hearted, he  made  an  ignominious  end  ;"  or  "  the  earth 
opened  and  swallowed  him  alive  with  all  his  belong- 
ings, not  leaving  even  a  trace."  Geoffrey  tries  to  work 
something  plausible  out  of  all  this,  declaring  that  Am- 
brosius  and  his  brother  set  fire  to  the  impregnable 
tower  which  was  their  enemy's  asylum,  thereby  de- 
stroying him.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  this  has  any  better  foundation.  Perhaps  the 
most  likely  conjecture  is  that  it  suited  his  purpose  to 
hide  away  and  raise  a  cloud  of  rumors  to  prevent  all 
search.  We  find  his  son  Pascent  retaining  control  of 
his  province  Demetia,  and  later  Gildas  mentions  it  as 
governed  by  Vortipore,  who  was  probably  his  grand- 
son. It  is  a  fair  inference  that  the  fallen  ruler  spent 
his  last  years  in  the  hills  not  far  from  Cair  Gloui,  very 
willing  to  be  unseen  and  forgotten.  In  the  words  of 
Nennius,  "  enough  has  been  said  of  Vortigern." 

Turn  we  now  to  the  rising  star,  Ambrosius  Aure- 
lianus.  Geoffrey  gives  the  following  fancy  sketch, 
guided,  it  may  be,  by  hints  which  are  lost  to  us  now. 
The  coloring  is  chivalric,  of  his  own  day,  but  the  noble 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q5 

ideal  is  of  all  time.  "Such,"  says  he,  "was  the 
bravery  and  courage  this  prince  was  master  of,  that 
while  he  was  in  Gaul  there  was  none  that  durst  en- 
counter him.  For  in  all  encounters  he  either  dis- 
mounted his  adversary  or  broke  his  spear.  Besides,  he 
was  magnificent  in  his  presence,  constant  at  his  devo- 
tions, temperate  in  all  respects,  and,  above  all  things, 
hated  a  lie.  A  brave  soldier  on  foot,  a  better  on  horse- 
back, and  expert  in  the  discipline  of  an  army." 

The  much  more  modern  estimate  of  Mr.  Pearson  is  not 
very  inconsistent  therewith.  We  read  that  he  was  "  a 
king  of  character  and  ability ;"  that  he  was  "  evidently 
regarded  as  the  champion  of  the  national  cause  against 
the  Saxon  invader;"  and  that  he  "tried  to  oppose 
Roman  discipline  to  the  irregular  fury  of  the  Saxons. 
The  very  '  dragon  of  the  great  pendragonship'  had  been 
copied  from  a  Roman  ensign." 

The  continental  ecclesiastical  writers,  quoted  at  second 
Jiand  in  "Poste's  Brittanica  Antiqua,"  are  at  issue 
about  the  religious  attitude  of  Ambrose,  one  account 
making  him  a  restorer  of  the  orthodox  faith,  another 
an  Arian  at  heart  and  supporter  of  Hebrews  and  Mani- 
cheans,  although  admitting  that  he  maintained  peace 
and  order  in  his  dominions  and  showed  himself  zealous 
in  reform.  The  seeming  contradiction  may  imply  only 
that  he  had  the  mental  breadth  to  care  little  for  minor 

distinctions  of  dogma ;  that  he  was  willing  to  live  #nd 

UNIVERSITY 


106     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

let  live  in  matters  of  religious  belief,  while  fighting 
vehemently  to  maintain  the  rights  of  his  people  in  this 
and  every  other  regard.  He  was  the  standard-bearer 
of  Christianity  against  heathendom,  not  of  any  narrow 
sect  or  the  phraseology  of  any  verbal  creed.  But  the 
charge  of  indifference  or  hostility  can  hardly  be  made 
against  the  founder  of  the  great  choir  of  Amesbury, 
the  chief  monastery  of  Britain,  "the  wall  of  the 
Eternal."  The  title  given  him  by  his  enemies,  the  one 
title  which  clung  about  his  last  battle-field  and  burial- 
place,  was  Natanleod,  Prince  of  the  Sanctuary. 

Mr.  Whittaker,  the  eighteenth-century  historian  of 
Manchester,  who  mentions  this  identification,  afterwards 
so  admirably  developed  by  Dr.  Guest,  also  makes  the 
campaigns  of  Ambrose  against  the  Saxons  begin  at  the 
north.  A  priori,  there  is  probability  in  this.  Octa  in 
a  new  rush  may  well  have  been  carrying  all  before 
him,  while  the  southern  British  leaders  were  wasting 
their  strength  on  each  other.  Perhaps  it  was  then  that 
the  fortified  site  of  Durham  passed  into  Anglo-Saxon 
hands.  Perhaps  York  was  beset  and  Isurium  and 
Blackrode  were  swept  away.  Then  the  vitals  of  the 
land  were  laid  bare,  and  the  isolated  forts  of  the  Kent 
shore  must  be  abandoned  to  their  own  devices.  As  for 
London,  it  was  probably  in  no  grave  danger,  above  all 
if  held  in  name  for  a  grandson  of  Hengist;  and  at 
worst  Ambrose  might  properly  aid  cities  which  were 


THE   TWO   LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q7 

loyal  to  him  rather  than  those  which  were  half  hostile 
or  standing  alone. 

Whittaker  says  that  he  was  defeated,  but  this  is  only 
a  conjecture  from  winnings  of  the  enemy  which  may 
have  been  made  before.     Blondes  and  Sigebert,  quoted 
by  Dr.  Guest,  aver  that  he  led  the  Britons  many  times 
against  the  Saxons,  and  was  at  last  defeated  and  slain ; 
that  they  fought  under  him  with  various  success  for 
forty-five  years.     Words  like  these  do  not  indicate  any 
very  discouraging  overthrow  at  the  beginning.     Prob- 
ably he  and  his  army  moved  on  the  northern  invaders 
with  all  the  confidence  which  the  rout  of  Vortigern 
could  give,  and  struck  them  so  hard  and  so  often  that 
they  were  glad  to  draw  back.     Geoifrey  evidently  had 
this  idea.     He  narrates  with  impossible  detail  a  great 
victory  from  which  Octa  escaped  to  York.     He  exe- 
cutes poetical  justice  on  Hengist  himself  by  the  hand 
of  Eldol  at  the  town  of  Kaerconan.     He  makes  Octa 
surrender  himself  and  the   garrison  of  York  to  the 
mercy  of  the  victor,  while  Ebissa  implores  permission 
to  live  and  pay  tribute.     Nothing  less  than  the  entire 
reduction  of  the  enemy  will  content  him.     We  may 
smile  over  this  contravention  of  history,  but  there  is 
probably  so  much  truth  behind  it  as  that  Ambrose  the 
Guledig  fought  manfully  in  Yorkshire  and  attained 
the  general  object  of  his  efforts.     Otherwise,  the  north- 
western assailants  would  without  delay  have  burst  over 


108     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

the  backbone  of  the  island  into  the  tempting  valleys  of 
the  Severn  and  the  Dee.  But  these  were  to  remain  free 
and  prosperous  for  another  hundred  years. 

From  this  great  work  the  south  before  long  must 
have  been  calling  him  wildly.  The  Saxons  of  the 
Caint  were  dangerously  astir  again.  "  Hengist  with 
his  son  Aesc  a  second  time  make  war  against  the  Brit- 
ons,"— perhaps  for  the  rich  pasture-lands  of  Eomney ; 
perhaps  to  exchange  an  uncertain  influence  over  London 
for  its  actual  occupancy. 

Dr.  Guest  and  Mr.  Green  accept  the  former  hypothe- 
sis, but  for  no  convincing  reason.  And  in  every  other 
endeavor  .the  great  Saxon  leader  seems  to  have  aimed 
at  the  queenly  city.  Wipped's-fleet  can  hardly  be 
called  an  exception,  for  London,  with  all  else  at  the 
southeast,  might  be  expected  to  fall  as  the  result. 

Mr.  Pearson  and  others  have  called  attention  to  the 
suspiciously  artificial  regularity  of  these  and  later 
doings,  in  the  Chronicles.  For  half  a  century  nearly 
everything  takes  place  "after  eight  years,"  or  after 
three,  both  being  sacred  intervals.  But  this  may 

mean  only  that  the  very  sacredness  caused  the  choosing 

% 

of  such  years  for  enterprises  of  moment ;  or  that  those 
events  were  best  remembered  which  could  be  made  to 
fall  into  this  kind  of  rhythm. 

The  exciting  cause  of  the  new  outbreak  is  hidden. 
Possibly  the  native  advisers  of  the  boy-king  by  the 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q9 

Thames  had  proved  less  pliant  than  had  been  hoped  by 
his  rapacious  kindred.  Or  his  crown  may  have  been 
a  foot-ball  by  this  time  between  revolutionary  Komans 
and  fiery  Celts.  Whoever  was  uppermost  undoubtedly 
put  together  some  power,  very  likely  in  part  of  the 
militia  or  train-band  sort,  for  we  hear  of  an  u  army" 
that  was  "  slaughtered/'  and  learn  by  the  still  earlier 
account  how  "  the  Britons  fled  from  the  Saxons  like 
fire."  Yet  the  latter,  though  "  victors,"  are  said  to 
"  remain  on  the  field  of  battle,"  and  there  is  an  impli- 
cation of  withdrawal  even  in  the  boastful  words,  "  they 
carry  (^immense  spoil."  If  we  suppose  that  the  city 
levies  were  routed,  that  the  cattle  of  the  Middlesex 
marshes  were  made  booty,  that  the  villas  and  villages 
were  rifled  as  far  as  Southwark,  but  that  in  the  end 
the  trained  legions  of  Ambrose  came  efficiently  to  the 
rescue,  we  may  not  be  very  wide  of  the  mark.  This 
theory  will  harmonize  with  all  the  facts  that  we  know. 
The  outcome  may  have  taken  the  form  of  a  treaty  be- 
tween the  contending  powers.  We  hear  of  no  other 
attempt  on  London  during  four  generations,  while 
Hengist  and  his  heirs  remained  secure  in  the  possession 
of  Kent. 

This  cannot  have  been  for  a  long  time  a  very  homo- 
geneous kingdom.  Besides  the  mixture  of  Teuton  and 
Scandinavian  already  referred  to,  there  were  tough 
indigestible  bits  of  Britondom  here  and  there,  which 

10 


HO     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

could  not  simply  "draw  back"  after  defeat,  according 
to  the  programme  of  "  the  making  of  England,"  but 
would  often  be  able  to  make  good  terms  before  surren- 
der. From  inroad  after  inroad,  many,  no  doubt,  had 
fled  beyond  the  border,  but  some  would  accept  servitude, 
to  remain  in  their  old  homes,  others  would  be  allowed 
to  live  as  they  had  lived  before,  and  still  others  would 
come  trooping  in  for  work  or  trade  when  the  wild 
forayers  were  known  to  have  taken  to  farming.  Prob- 
ably the  woodlands  and  marshlands  were  never  so 
densely  peopled.  There  all  were  Celtic.  Along  the 
skirts  of  the  forest  Celt  and  Saxon  must  have  inter- 
mingled ;  along  the  Wantsum,  the  Scandinavian  with 
the  eminently  composite  Roman.  Different  surround- 
ings had  their  effect  also.  The  Merscwara  between  the 
Rother  and  Lymne  are  pointed  out  as  a  distinct  folk, 
though  subsidiary;  and  for  long  there  were  tinder- 
kings  of  West  Kent  in  the  debatable  lands  beyond  the 
Medway. 

Perhaps  a  seeming  contradiction  may  be  explained 
here,  for  Ethelward  makes  Aesc,  the  son  of  Hengist, 
begin  to  reign  in  Kent  in  488,  while  Nennius  declares 
that  Octa,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  "  came  from  the 
sinistral  part  of  the  island  to  the  kingdom  of  Kent,  and 
from  him  have  proceeded  all  the  kings  of  that  prov- 
ince." Aesc,  as  a  younger  brother,  may  have  had  but 
a  subordinate  half-realm. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN, 

This  is  the  last  that  we  hear  of  Hengist.  Indeed, 
there  is  no  record  of  this  pirate-monarch  for  fifteen 
years  before.  Mr.  Green  supposes  him  to  have  en- 
gaged in  the  wearisome  task  of  reducing  the  great 
fortresses  that  dotted  his  coast.  There  is  nothing  un- 
likely in  this ;  yet,  when  their  case  was  found  to  be 
hopeless,  one  would  have  expected  a  garrison  here  and 
there  to  be  borne  away  by  sea.  Many  ports  were  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  Britons.  If  this  were  done,  the 
fact  has  not  been  told. 

Among  the  many  dark  and  puzzling  questions  of 
the  fifth  century,  there  is  none  more  inscrutable  than 
that  of  Britain  on  the  sea.  Carausius  had  a  navy  to 
resist  the  Saxons  and  Romans ;  Alfred  had  a  swift  and 
efficient  navy  to  drive  off  the  Northmen.  It  is  hard 
to  believe  that  the  second  Constantine  did  not  leave 
behind  some  vessels  of  war.  It  is  harder  to  under- 
stand why  Ambrose  should  have  failed  to  supply  this 
crying  need  from  the  merchant  fleet  of  the  Severn,  or 
to  have  made  ample  purchase  along  the  Gallic  coast. 

There  was  no  lack  of  shipping.  When  the  army  of 
Riotharnus  moved  back  and  forth  across  the  Channel, 
a  multitude  of  sails  and  oars  must  have  carried  them. 
When  the  Bretons  fled  to  Britain,  and  the  Britons  in 
turn  fled  to  Brittany,  they  had  other  propulsion  than 
their  own  swimming.  A  Gallic  youth,  contemplating 
a  course  of  saiutship,  is  made  to  turn  quite  naturally 


112     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

to  British  trading- vessels  for  means  of  transport.  Al- 
most every  bard  or  sage  or  visionary  of  the  next  hun- 
dred years  is  recorded  as  finding  his  way  freely  over 
the  water.  The  Saxon  had  changed  the  landing- 
places  of  the  island  sails,  but  thus  far  can  hardly  have 
lessened  their  number. 

Yet  they  play  no  part  in  the  great  contest.  Half 
the  coast-line  was  beset,  but  we  hear  of  no  effort  to 
raise  the  blockade.  Expedition  after  expedition  of 
the  Saxons  descended,  without  fear  of  interruption, 
unless  from  the  militia  of  the  land.  A  well-appointed 
British  fleet  might  have  cut  off  all  succor  from  Thanet 
at  a  critical  time,  and  thus  have  ended  the  war.  Later, 
it  might  have  linked  Richborough  with  Reculver, 
transferred  the  other  scattered  garrisons  to  the  same 
quarter,  and  so  built  up  a  menace  in  the  enemy's  rear. 
Even  a  few  ships  would  have  scattered  the  little 
squadron  of  JElle,  wherewith  he  began  the  ruin  of 
Sussex.  Not  many  would  have  been  required  to  best 
Cerdic  quite  off  the  shore.  At  any  stage  of  the  con- 
flict a  navy  would  have  been  a  godsend  to  the  Briton. 
Yet  neither  side  has  even  a  dim  authentic  reference 
to  it  as  a  fighting  power,  unless  in  the  death-song  of 
Corroi,  the  "  Lord  of  the  Southern  Sea."  But  this 
title  may  have  been  no  more  than  a  bit  of  vaunting 
from  the  shore-line.  Besides,  Mr.  Skene,  demolishing 
Mr.  Stephens,  has  found  Corroi's  adversary  in  a 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     H3 

mythical  Irishman  of  the  Ossianic  cycle,  who  died 
centuries  on  centuries  before,  if  he  ever  lived  at  all. 
Corroi  as  an  admiral  has  too  many  dates  that  will  not 
come  together,  for  sober  history. 

What  has  been  said  of  the  shipping  brings  into 
light  certain  urban  changes  which  must  then  have  been 
going  on.  From  the  day  when  Hengist  planted  his 
outposts  along  the  lower  Thames  and  filled  its  estuary 
with  his  fleet,  he  held  by  the  throat  the  maritime  com- 
merce of  London.  Hardly  could  a  vessel  pass  in  or 
out  unless  by  his  permission,  and  his  people  were  not 
yet  at  the  stage  of  development  where  this  would  be 
given.  London  was  a  port  no  longer,  and  must  live 
mainly  by  caravans.  The  main  current  of  business 
and  travel  was  diverted  more  and  more  to  the  south- 
western shore,  and  to  what  has  been  called  the  Severn 
Sea.  Exeter,  Bath,  and  Caerleon  throve  at  the  expense 
of  London,  as  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  might  thrive  at 
the  expense  of  New  York  in  the  case  of  a  sea-line 
blockade. 

The  overland  travel  to  the  southern  coast  was  an- 
other factor,  though  a  less  one,  in  the  shifting  of  wealth 
and  population.  There  had  always  been  something  of 
the  sort,  answering  to  the  later  stage-coach  lines,  by 
way  of  Eichborough.  This  route  probably  moved 
westward  to  Dover  and  thence  to  Lymne,  as  the  in- 
vaders came  that  way.  *  When  even  these  termini  were 
h  10* 


114     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

cut  off,  the  main  human  stream  flowed  necessarily 
around  the  Andred-wood  to  Southampton  Water  and 
other  indentations  of  the  coast-line,  adding  to  the  pros- 
perity of  Silchester  and  Winchester  by  the  way.  There 
was  no  doubt,  in  consequence,  and  for  greater  safety,  a 
shifting  of  metropolitan  population  thus  far  westward ; 
while  the  harried  districts  of  the  northeast  and  the 
towns  too  often  beleaguered  may  well  have  sent  swarms 
of  people  into  the  protected  and  fertile  Gwent.  Com- 
merce would  also  find  or  force  its  way  from  London 
more  directly  to  the  Channel  through  the  mass  of  the 
forest.  One  such  route  must  have  led  to  the  strongly- 
fortified  seaport  of  Anderida,  the  capital  of  an  im- 
portant mining  region.  Another  has  been  traced  north- 
eastward from  Chichester.  Where  the  first  valley  that 
it  crosses  came  out  of  the  woodland,  a  Roman  villa- 
site  furnishes  evidences  of  even  more  than  usual  taste 
and  luxury.  Wealth,  it  may  be,  centred  especially  in 
this  western  end  of  the  long  fertile  strip  which  the 
South  Saxon  before  long  made  his  own.  Great  cities 
were  not  far  away.  There  was  probably  some  con- 
spicuous temptation  in  that  quarter,  for  the  first  attack 
was  directed  thither. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   CONQUEST  OF   SUSSEX. 

IN  477,  say  the  Chronicles,  JElle  the  Saxon,  with 
his  three  sons,  put  out  from  Germany  for  Britain. 
Most  likely  they  touched  at  Thanet  or  Dover,  picking 
up  some  recruits  and  supplies  by  the  way.  Here,  too, 
they  would  get  hints  for  their  guidance.  Hugging  the 
shore  as  they  went  westward,  they  landed  at  Keynor  on 
the  face  of  the  Selsea  peninsula,  and  marched  inland 
towards  Regnum.  The  local  forces,  hastily  gathering, 
met  them  at  or  within  the  border  of  the  mighty  wood, 
and  fought  the  battle  of  Aldredes  (Andred)  lea,  which 
may  have  ended  in  the  fall  of  the  town.  If  not,  its 
walled  area  surely  must  have  been  overcrowded  with 
fugitives.  For  the  Britons  were  defeated,  and  the 
neighboring  lowlands  thrown  open  to  the  marauders. 
The  home  of  luxury  at  Bignor,  and  others  like 
it,  no  doubt  then  also  met  their  ruin,  along  the  lower 
hills. 

Mr.  Green  supposes  that  the  invaders  became  settlers 
forthwith,  and  made  their  way  eastward  by  land,  with 
the  frantic  haste  of  four  miles  to  the  year.  But  this,  I 
'think,  is  another  instance  of  the  error  by  ship-ignoring. 

115 


116     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

They  came  in  their  long  war-boats,  and  these,  we  may 
reasonably  suppose,  were  kept  for  future  use,  the  Saxon 
movements  being,  as  yet,  all  near  the  sea.  If  they  did 
not  withdraw  altogether  with  their  plunder,  it  would  be 
more  natural  to  fortify  and  hold  the  neck  of  the  penin- 
sula where  they  first  made  land,  as  Hengist,  in  the 
beginning,  had  fortified  and  held  the  one  exposed  face 
of  Thanet.  Perhaps,  for  a  time,  some  treaty  may  have 
been  entered  into,  which  would  secure  -^Elle  there.  But 
we  may  be  sure  that  before  this  the  strengthened  vigi- 
lance of  Ambrose  would  have  been  drawn  to  Sussex, 
and  an  army  fit  to  cope  with  the  Saxons  would  be  in 
waiting  for  any  advance.  Henry  of  Huntington  says 
that  the  next  attack  was  opposed  by  the  kings  and 
rulers  of  Britain.  Dr.  Guest  inferred  from  this  the 
presence  of  the  imperator. 

Eight  years  elapsed,  the  Saxon  meanwhile  making 
sure  his  foothold,  most  likely  with  reinforcements  from 
Kent,  which  was  quieter  now,  in  the  old  age  of  Hen- 
gist,  and  with  others  from  beyond  the  sea.  A  long 
line  of  prows,  drawn  well  up  on  the  sand,  must  have 
fringed  the  outer  border  of  JElle's  little  realm.  With 
these  at  command,  he  awaited  only  a  pretext  or  an  op- 
portunity to  slip  by  those  who  were  watching  him, — 
perhaps  at  night, — and  fall  on  some  other  part  of  the 
shore,  unguarded.  He  found,  probably,  the  spot  in  the 
little  estuary  of  Mercredsburn.  At  any  rate,  he  fought 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     H7 

a  battle  on  or  near  that  stream,  and  apparently  with 
the  main  force  of  his  opponents.  It  may  be  that  they 
had  been  keen  enough  to  watch  his  secrecy,  and  swift 
enough  to  outspeed  him.  A  Saxon  repulse  must  have 
followed,  and  a  severe  one;  for  Ethelward  does  not 
claim  it  as  a  victory.  Moreover,  there  was  no  further 
assault  on  the  shore  of  Sussex  for  six  years. 

Then  it  befell  at  the  extreme  eastern  end,  where 
Octa's  Kent  folk — he  ruled  there  now — were  un- 
doubtedly pressing.  A  great  array  of  the  Merscwara, 
as  being  nearest,  very  probably  swelled  the  host  of 
-ZElle  before  Anderida. 

That  siege,  with  its  wavering  fortunes  and  its  fero- 
cious ending,  made  some  such  impression  on  the  peo- 
ples of  the  island  as  was  made  upon  the  Greeks  and 
their  neighbors  by  the  tale  of  Troy.  The  Britons, 
like  the  Trojans,  hurried  from  the  sack  and  the  ruin, 
with  lamentations  which  have  died.  The  Saxons,  like 
the  earlier  victors,  lifted  up  their  voices  in  exultant 
song.  Through  Henry  of  Huntington,  interpreted  by 
Dr.  Freeman,  their  chant  has  come  down  to  our  own 
day.  The  former  turned  into  prose  the  crude  historic 
balladry  which  lived  on  near  the  spot  in  the  memory 
and  recital  of  men ;  the  other  has  set  it  once  more  in 
the  form  of  Saxon  rhythm. 

The  main,  or  at  least  the  distinguishing,  feature  of 
the  contest  is  the  persistent  efforts  at  relief  by  forces 


118     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

out  of  the  woodland.  According  to  Mr.  Green,  these 
were  miners  of  that  district,  hardy  fellows,  who,  we 
may  be  sure,  lent  their  aid.  Yet  by  themselves 
they  could  not  greatly  trouble  an  army  which  was 
strong  enough  to  attempt  Anderida,  one  of  the  great 
military  legacies  of  Rome.  Nor  would  the  British 
Guledig  leave  the  very  pearl  of  his  border  to  its  fate. 
We  may  fancy  him  pushing  legion  after  legion,  in 
threads  of  men,  along  the  bridle-paths  of  Andred, 
where  there  was  little  by  way  of  food  ;  sending  his 
skirmishers  to  hover  in  a  swarm  about  the  Saxon  in- 
trenchments;  now  dashing  vehemently  in  force  on  some 
weak  point  which  they  had  found  for  him ;  now  luring 
detached  bodies  into  the  thickets,  where  his  men  fell 
on  them  with  slaughter.  By  some  one  all  this  was 
done ;  why  not  by  him  ? 

But  under  such  conditions  he  could  not  keep  a  suffi- 
cient army  long  in  the  field.  Other  frontiers  may  have 
needed  his  attention  too.  At  times  he  must  withdraw ; 
and  the  Saxons,  following,  were  at  last  able  to  plant  a 
covering  force  wrhich  he  could  not  dislodge.  After 
that,  hardly  a  bird  of  the  air  could  get  into  the  city. 
In  the  end,  famine  or  treachery  or  some  sudden  assault 
made  it  a  prey.  And  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  mercy. 
Yet  probably  some  women  were  spared,  they  being  of 
the  spoil.  Ethelward  and  Dr.  Freeman's  ballad-maker 
deny  even  this.  But  the  earlier  statement,  "  there  was 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES   OF  BRITAIN.     H9 

not  one  Brit  left,"  hardly  calls  for  more  .than  the  ex- 
termination of  fighting  men. 

So  notable  a  victory  would  be  followed,  of  course,  by 
rapid  progress  westward  along  the  shore.  All  the  rest- 
less adventurers  in  Kent  would  swell  its  volume. 
Northward,  into  the  depths  of  the  woods,  they  might 
work  their  way,  setting  fire  to  cabins  and  putting  out 
furnaces,  until  checked  on  the  dividing  ridge  by  forces 
thrown  out  from  London.  But  along  the  open  land 
south  of  the  woods  there  were  more  temptations,  with 
less  obstacles.  Thither  their  retiring  pioneers  and  their 
main  body  also  would  be  drawn.  At  every  small 
river-crossing  they  would  be  brought  to  a  stand  and  a 
fight ;  but  it  was  a  fight  that  must  win.  Eegnum  kept 
them  back,  it  may  be,  for  a  time,  until  it  was  stricken 
out  of  existence,  where  a  new  town  grew  up  afterwards, 
bearing  its  conqueror's  name.  But,  by  the  end  of  the 
third  year  from  the  taking  of  Anderida,  they  were 
probably  near  Southampton  water,  and  stoutly  resisted 
by  an  army  from  the  Gwent ;  perhaps  where  the  first 
valley  beyond  Chichester  divides  the  narrow  pass  be- 
tween forest  and  sea. 

For  now  their  aquatic  flanking  tactics  began  again, 
as  when .  Reculver  or  Anderida  had  barred  the  way. 
Rightly  to  understand  the  conquest  of  Kent,  Sussex, 
and  Southern  Wessex,  we  must  conceive  it  as  a  con- 
tinuing whole,  achieved  largely  by  the  same  soldiery, 


120     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

or  their  offspring,  and  generally  in  the  same  way. 
What  they  could  not  pass  by  land,  they  invariably 
went  around  by  water,  and  British  fastnesses  and  garri- 
sons were  often  left  for  long  in  the  rear  of  the  con- 
quered territory. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   FALL   OF   AMBROSE. 

THIS  time  the  new  ground  was  broken  by  Cerdic,  a 
chief  of  the  Gewissas,  and  with  a  more  than  usually 
ominous  breaking.  A  great  arm  of  the  Channel  aided 
him  to  reach  the  fertile  inland.  There  was  no  Andred- 
wood  for  a  barrier  any  more.  When  he  grounded  his 
prows  by  the  mouth  of  the  Itchin,  he  had  seized  the 
main  artery  of  commercial  England  east  of  the  Severn. 
Twenty  miles  of  a  broad  Roman  road  would  bring  him 
easily  to  a  great  and  wealthy  city,  little  less  than  Lon- 
don in  any  regard. 

We  may  fancy  the  dismay  of  Winchester  (Venta 
Belgarum)  at  this  apparition,  and  of  all  her  sister 
cities,  with  the  country  lying  about  them  :  the  dashing 
off  of  mounted  messengers,  the  hurrying  forward  of 
one  levy  after  another  as  fast  as  arms  could  be  put  in 
their  hands.  Dislodge  the  invaders ;  or,  if  not  that, 
at  least  delay  them,  until  we  can  gather  forces  for  dis- 
lodgement!  surely  must  have  been  the  cry.  Hardly 
any  other  plan  was  open  to  a  people  thus  situated  and 
taken  by  surprise.  Each  detachment  that  came  up 
was  flung  at  once  headlong  on  Cerdic  and  his  men. 
F  11  121 


122     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

From  the  hour  of  their  landing  until  nightfall  they 
were  kept  nimble  in  repulsing  these  ever-increasing, 
ever-assailing  enemies.  They  made  no  way  inland, 
counting  it  a  victory  that  they  were  not  driven  from 
their  hold.  Every  day  must  have  made  the  task  be- 
fore them  more  difficult.  And  surely  the  time  cannot 
have  been  distant  when  Ambrose  and  his  main  army 
were  to  bar  the  way. 

Why  that  agency  was  not  sooner  brought  to  bear 
upon  them  will  easily  appear.  In  all  the  barbarian 
assaults  there  was  a  certain  co-operation,  extending 
over  a  wider  area  than  we  usually  bear  in  mind.  At 
the  beginning,  when  the  Pict  and  the  Scot  confederated 
with  the  Saxon,  three  frontiers  of  Britain  were  assailed 
together.  Afterwards,  when  Hengist  made  for  London, 
Octa  broke  through  towards  York.  And  we  may  sup- 
pose that  Cerdic  was  supported  in  his  great  western 
venture  by  more  or  less  active  campaigning  all  along 
the  very  irregular  border. 

The  Kent  people  may  have  been  threatening  Lon- 
don from  the  Southwark  side,  or  sailing  and  rowing 
across  the  Thames  in  detached  parties  to  aid  in  the 
conquest  of  Essex.  Other  assailants — or  possibly  the 
same — may  simultaneously  have  been  struggling  up 
from  the  sea-side  along  the  Colne  and  the  Chelm  and 
the  Stour,  to  occupy  a  fairer  bit  of  country  and  assail 
Camulodunum.  The  north  folk  and  south  folk,  avoid- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     123 

ing  the  two  or  three  great  forts  by  the  coast,  were  at 
their  slow  work  of  winning  the  Gwent  of  the  Iceni, 
valley  by  valley,  plateau  by  plateau.  Probably  its 
capital  had  already  fallen  and  passed  away.  Perhaps 
they  were  drawing  perilously  near  the  gates  of  Cam- 
bridge. 

Farther  north,  if  we  may  believe  Mr.  Whittaker, 
were  two  independent  and  mighty  inroads, — one  by 
.  way  of  Durham  and  York,  the  other  more  to  the  west, 
overwhelming  all  Lancashire,  about  488,  and  halting 
finally  before  the  wall  of  Chester.  But  this  city  did 
not  fall;  nor  did  Corineum,  nor  did  Verulam.  No 
invader  reached,  as  yet,  any  part  of  the  Thames  valley 
from  that  quarter.  None  disturbed  the  repose  of  the 
Severn.  It  is  likely  they  were  met  and  beaten  in  de- 
tail much  farther  north,  or  wore  themselves  out  in 
marching  and  fighting  where  reinforcements  were  not 
to  be  had.  But  so  long  as  they  were  still  in  the  field, 
the  very  life  of  the  country  depended  on  preventing 
their  junction.  Probably  this  severance  had  not 
been  assured  when  Cerdic  opened  the  new  chapter  of 
the  war.  Possibly  not  even  in  time  to  save  Winchester, 
for  Dr.  Guest,  following  monkish  legend,  puts  within 
one  year  the  descent  at  Cerdic's  ore  and  the  capture  of 
that  city.  But  the  authority  is  not  good,  and  so  rapid 
a  sequence  is  at  least  unlikely.  The  Saxon  may  even 
have  withdrawn  altogether,  as  Mr.  Green  would  seem 


124     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

to  imply  ;  but  in  view  of  the  importance  of  the  position, 
we  may  be  safer  in  a  middle  hypothesis.  Where  he 
had  room,  he  would  strengthen  himself  and  stay.  Re- 
inforcements would  be  sent  for.  Other  descents  would 
be  incited.  If  there  were  no  thoroughfare  by  land,  at 
least  the  opportunity  could  not  be  better  for  reconnois- 
sance  and  worriment  by  sea.  "  Six  years  after  their 
arrival  they  sailed  around  the  western  part  of  Britain, 
which  is  now  called  Wessex." 

This  surely  is  the  adventure  of  men  operating  from 
a  settled  base ;  also  of  men  who  had  by  no  means  taken 
leave  of  the  water-road.  It  is  very  significant  in 
another  way.  By  thus  rounding  Land's  End  and  sail- 
ing up  the  Bristol  channel,  how  must  Cerdic's  eyes 
have  been  set  aflame  with  the  ancient  and  growing 
commerce  of  the  Severn.  He  had  learned  the  way  to 
Caerleon,  where  later  "  the  neighing  of  the  wild  white 
horse  set  every  gilded  parapet  shuddering."  And  how 
his  rushing  kestrels  of  the  sea  must  have  fluttered  the 
white  dove-flocks  all  along  the  double  Damnonian 
shore ! 

But  the  Saxon  arms  were  not  turned  that  way  in 
earnest  yet.  In  the  very  next  year  there  was  a  descent 
again,  but  near  their  main  body,  indeed  much  nearer 
than  even  the  new  conquest  beside  the  Itchin.  In  the 
lapse  of  time  the  entry  took  a  legendary  shape,  con- 
fusing a  real  conflict  with  fanciful  word-explaining. 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     ]25 

The  mythical  Port  figures  in  it,  with  damage  to  the 
faith  of  Mr.  Pearson,  who  thereupon  calls  the  whole 
record  unhistorical.  Under  the  same  verbal  spell, 
Sharon  Turner  long  ago  identified  this  episode  with  the 
death-battle  of  Geraint.  Cries  Llywarch,  the  man  of 
eld,  "  Before  Geraint,  the  enemy  of  oppression,  I  saw 
white  horses  jaded  and  gory,  and  after  the  shout  a  ter- 
rible resistance. 

"In  Llongborth  I  saw  the  weapons  of  men  and 
blood  fast  dropping.  .  .  . 

"  In  Llongborth  I  saw  Arthur,  emperor  and  con- 
ductor of  the  toil." 

But  the  fight  at  Portsmouth  was  before  the  day  of 
Arthur's  empire,  though  not  long ;  and  these  historic 
legendary  fancies  may  all  drift  away  together.  Yet 
no  doubt  there  was  a  landing  vi  et  armis, — a  landing 
just  where  the  Chronicle  puts  it,  for  that  was  in  the 
logical  necessity  of  the  case.  The  great  Port,  as  even 
the  Latins  called  it,  was  in  no  need  of  any  man's  per- 
sonality. It  offered  the  one  outlet  between  the  South 
Saxons  and  the  West  Saxons  for  the  commerce  of  the 
Gwent  by  sea.  It  formed  the  hard  nucleus  of  the 
griping  resistance  which  held  by  the  throat  the  long- 
hungry  column  of  the  sons  of  .ZElle.  Smitten  front 
and  rear,  it  fell.  The  rush  poured  over  it  and  by  it 
into  a  broader  country.  The  hand-clasp  of  Saxon  and 
Saxon  was  given  in  a  camp  of  Cerdic.  Therewith 

11* 


126     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

ended  the  opening  year  (or  the  second)  of  the  blind 
sixth  century. 

It  was  not  an  auspicious  beginning  for  the  Britons  ; 
yet  the  situation  was  not  all  against  them.  The  fight 
had  been  going  on,  with  little  or  no  interruption,  for 
more  than  fifty  years,  and  still  at  the  worst  there  was 
but  one  breach  in  the  second  line  of  defences.  The 
sea-coast  was  all  gone  from  the  Humber  to  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  except  for  a  great  fortress  here  and  there  living 
a  life  of  its  own  ;  but  the  frame- work  of  woodland  had 
taken  its  place,  and  hardy  men  filled  and  lined  that 
natural  barrier.  In  every  gap  stood  some  walled  gar- 
rison-town, with  Roman  forethought  in  the  lines  and 
weight  of  its  masonry. 

London,  greatest  of  all,  held  the  very  apex  of  a  great 
V  of  wilderness,  where  the  Thames  broke  through  east- 
ward, and  her  invincibility  had  all  but  turned  the 
Cantwara  into  quiet,  civilized  men.  Due  north  and 
due  west  from  points  not  far  away,  the  great  wings  of 
the  forest  ridges  ran  very  nearly  to  the  Trent  and 
Itchin  :  that  on  the  south  a  broad  waste  of  timber  and 
thicketry,  ill-explored,  haunted  by  every  kind  of  brute 
savagery,  bearing  for  its  very  name  the  absence  of  all 
ordered  human  life ;  the  other,  a  degree  less  impassable 
by  nature,  but  made  equally  strong  by  the  greater  num- 
ber of  its  defenders.  The  Ermine  street,  one  of  the 
most  vital  roads  of  the  island,  ran  a  little  behind  the 


DF  TUB 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     127 

crest.  Others  opened  into  or  from  it,  or  made  their 
crossing.  Men  went  and  came  in  numbers,  and  towns 
had  grown  up  of  that  passage.  Here  and  there  a  large 
city  like  Verulam  filled  a  clearing  in  the  forest.  And 
in  those  days  of  menace,  earthworks  and  block-houses 
must  have  been  freely  strung  along  wherever  there 
was  more  than  usual  apprehension. 

Towards  York  the  line  had  indeed  repeatedly  given 
way,  and,  although  intermittently  re-established,  it  was 
now  probably  well  back  to  Sherwood  forest,  the  Peak, 
and  the  desert,  following  thence  the  backbone  of  the 
island  as  far  as  the  southern  wall,  where  the  grandsons 
of  Cunedda  and  the  unconquerable  men  of  Caerluel 
were  perhaps  keeping  up  half  independently  a  warfare 
of  their  own.  Even  north  of  this,  two-thirds  of  the 
country  were  yet  in  British  hands,  if  Mr.  Skene's 
maps  be  fair  criteria  of  it  in  later  times  ;  but  here,  the 
temptation  being  less,  the  attack  was  no  doubt  light 
also.  From  so  remote  a  quarter  no  enemy  could  gain 
access  to  the  heart  of  the  land. 

But  there  had  long  been  danger  from  Lindsey  by 
way  of  Lindom  and  Leicester,  from  York  by  way  of 
Chester ;  and  it  was  very  great  and  urgent  now  along 
the  quite  open  frontier  to  the  north  of  Southampton 
water.  Only  a  thin  screen  of  bushy  woodlands  here, 
a  low  crest-line,  with  valleys  breaking  through.  Be- 
fore long  even  these  were  passed,  and  the  invaders 


128     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

entered  on  the  fair  and  fertile  upland  which  had  been 
the  chief  heritage  of  the  Belgae. 

May  we  suppose  that  the  great  British  Guledig  had 
foreseen  this  and  taken  his  measures  accordingly? 
There  was  but  one  adequate  way  of  defending  the  in- 
defensible, and  that  way  he  had  chosen.  All  material 
bulwarks  failing,  he  would  and  did  erect  a  rampart  of 
zeal.  Where  the  Saxon  saw  only  a  fertile  and  inviting 
land,  unwalled,  thrown  open  to  the  air,  his  for  all  ravage 
and  plunder,  he  came  to  feel  the  presence  of  a  fighting 
holy  of  holies.  The  rich  Gwent  was  there,  agricultural, 
pastoral,  astir  with  the  overland  commerce  of  a  half- 
score  of  cities ;  but  there,  also,  was  the  great  sanctuary 
of  Britain,  the  monastery  imperial,  the  choir  of  the 
dominion,  which  Ambrose  himself  had  founded,  and  of 
which  he  was  proud  to  be  the  titular  head.  The  monks 
of  Amesbury  must  have  been  worth  another  army. 

But  armies  of  the  ordinary  sort  were  gathering. 
The  three-mile  circle  of  Calleva  was  held  in  such  force 
that  no  eastward  movement  of  the  invaders  took  place 
for  many  years.  The  sheer  cliffs  of  Old  Sarum  hardly 
needed  a  garrison.  From  the  territory  of  the  Four 
Towns,  from  the  valley  of  the  Severn,  from  the  west- 
ward trend  of  Dynaint,  perhaps  from  the  mountains 
and  the  far  northern  cities,  recruits  may  have  been 
steadily  pouring  into  the  great  camp  of  Ambrose,  by 
the  border  of  Salisbury  Plain. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     129 

But  in  the  years  of  watching  and  waiting,  the  crucial 
strain  upon  the  Celt  was  the  strain  of  holding  together. 
There  was  nothing  less  than  life  and  death  in  it  now, 
and  the  desperate  ingenuity  of  an  aged  man  must  have 
been  sorely  put  to  it  for  means  to  stay  the  melting. 
More  than  ever  he  would  strive  to  give  them  some- 
thing of  the  permanent  coherence,  as  well  as  the  form, 
of  the  old  legions.  More  than  ever  he  would  stimu- 
late the  esprit  du  corps  of  his  own  equestrian  body- 
guard, itself  a  legacy  of  Rome,  but  now  changing  to 
a  more  individual  array, — princely  men  of  sword 
and  spear,  where  each  was  a  younger  comrade  of  his 
imperial  lord  and  held  worthy  to  lead  men  into  battle. 

Even  the  sports  of  Rome,  in  a  nobler  development, 
were  made  the  means  of  tempting  the  uneasy  to  remain 
and  the  more  distant  soldiery  to  draw  near,  while  all 
were  hardened  for  the  rough  work  ahead.  Whatever 
the  embellishment  of  Norman  days,  we  may  find  a 
reasonable  independent  explanation  of  the  fantastic 
chivalry,  the  wealth  of  adventure,  the  incessant  mimic 
battling,  which  distinguish  in  poetry  and  legend  this 
lost  life  of  Britain  while  still  free.  The  Saxon  had 
never  anything  half  so  winning. 

But  the  Saxon  was  set  in  mind  on  scattering  it 
utterly,  and  making  what  it  guarded  his  own.  Cerdic 
felt  the  gathering  before  him,  and  drew,  in  his  turn,  on 
the  long  warlike  fringe  of  settlement  as  far  east  as 


13Q     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Pevensey,  and  even  from  what  may  be  called  the  home 
land  of  the  Caint.  Wherever  a  Saxon  was,  there,  too, 
was  aid  for  the  daring  founder  of  Wessex.  Yet  seven 
years  elapsed  before  he  felt  strong  enough  to  make  a 
great  forward  movement. 

Guided  by  nomenclature,  legend,  and  later  record, 
we  may  suppose  that  the  British  irregular  forces  occu- 
pied the  forests  of  Charwood  and  Waltham  Chase 
in  the  new  region  which  the  Saxons  had  won ;  while 
the  main  army,  under  Ambrose  in  person,  was  drawn 
up  either  south  of  Winchester  or  more  probably  south- 
east of  Amesbury.  In  spite  of  his  eighty  years,  the 
fiery  imperator  is  said  to  have  begun  the  battle  with  a 
great  onslaught,  which  was  fatally  successful,  for  it 
removed  him  and  one  whole  wing  of  the  British  array 
beyond  hope  of  aid.  Matters  went  ill  behind  him  be- 
fore he  turned,  and  then  there  were  enemies  both  in 
front  and  rear.  The  fight  lasted  long,  even  against 
such  odds,  but  in  the  end  he  had  five  thousand  of  his 
fighting  men  to  bear  him  company,  and  Stonehenge  for 
their  monument. 

Yet  the  host  of  Cerdic  must  have  been  shattered  in 
shattering,  and  most  likely  withdrew  towards  Winches- 
ter, which  may  have  yielded  in  a  panic,  following  the 
evil  news.  It  can  hardly  have  been  taken  sword  in 
hand,  for  one  of  the  more  notable  churches  became  a 
heathen  temple,  and  the  city  continued  in  human  occu- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

pancy,  instead  of  being  reduced  to  ruin  and  ashes. 
Beyond  this  and  a  crescent  of  the  fertile  land  about  it, 
the  Saxon  gained  little.  Probably  Owain,  who  may 
have  been  Uthyr  the  Terrible,  showed  too  savage  a  front 
for  further  molestation. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ARTHUR — WHO   AND   WHERE? 

OWAIN  and  Uthyr  are  names  which  fill  the  gap, 
real  or  assumed,  between  Ambrose  and  Arthur.  Dr. 
Guest  believes  in  the  former  as  the  son  and  the  heir  of 
the  great  Aurelius ;  but  Uthyr  is  to  him  only  a  per- 
sonified verbal  error.  Geoffrey,  he  supposes,  mistook 
" Arthur  Mabuter"  for  "Arthur,  son  of  Uter," 
whereas  it  should  be  translated  the  "  terrible  child/' — 
a  fit  characterization  of  precocious  valor.  And  having 
discovered  a  parent  for  Arthur,  he  was  bound  to  invent 
the  parental  biography  or  leave  his  history  incomplete. 

If  this  be  true,  Taliessin  and  his  contemporaries 
must  have  blundered  in  the  same  way.  They  refer 
unmistakably  "  to  the  son  of  Uthyr"  in  one  poem, 
and  to  the  "servant  of  Uthir"  in  another;  while  a 
third,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  "  the  Death-Song  of 
Uthyr."  I  am  not  quite  sure  how  these  would  stand 
in  the  final  revision  of  Mr.  Stephens,  which  was  never 
completed,  but  they  all  seem  to  be  accepted  as  authentic 
by  Mr.  Skene,  a  still  greater  authority. 

To  Geoffrey,  if  he  believed  what  he  tells  us,  the 
matter  presented  itself  quite  clearly ;  and  Malory  fol- 
132 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     133 

lowed  his  version.  Uther  was  the  younger  brother  of 
Ambrose ;  Arthur  was  the  son  of  Uther  by  miraculous 
personation.  We  all  know  the  story,  not  without  older 
parallels,  but  it  is  unbelievable  now. 

Mr.  Pearson  has  another  solution.  Uther  was  Am- 
brosius  himself.  Arthur  was  the  son  of  both,  or 
either,  as  you  will,  and  succeeded  to  a  "diminished 
sovereignty,"  with  his  capital  in  the  "  Roman  works" 
of  Camelot. 

But  Gildas,  who  was  almost  a  contemporary  and 
given  over  to  adoration  of  Ambrosius,  never  seems  to 
have  heard  of  any  Uther,  identical  or  otherwise.  Nen- 
nius,  coming  after,  is  equally  silent.  Owain  fares  no 
better  at  their  hands.  What  we  learn  of  either  before 
Geoffrey,  must  be  through  Welsh  pedigrees  or  Cum- 
brian poetry.  The  former  do  not  claim  to  be  inspired. 
The  inspiration  of  the  latter  is  uncertain.  In  this  un- 
certainty, at  least,  we  may  follow  them,  with  the  one 
suggestion  of  identity  thrown  out  already. 

And  now  of  Arthur.  Whence  was  he?  What  did 
he?  Wherein  consisted  the  real  historic  outline  and 
body  of  the  greatest  imaginative  development  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen  ?  The  Welsh  of  the  Middle 
Ages  believed  him  to  be  Cornish  beyond  question,  with 
his  chief  seat  in  the  beginning  at  Celliwig,  where  the 
remains  of  "Arthur's  castle"  are  still  found.  Later,  we 
find  him  designated  as  hereditary  king  of  the  Silures; 

12 


134     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

or  as  probably  the  nephew  of  a  southwestern  princelet ; 
or  as  the  son  of  Merig,  a  chief  in  Glamorgan.  Brit- 
tany has  always  claimed  him  for  her  own.  Turning 
far  northward,  tradition  is  loud  of  him  all  about 
Carlisle  ;  and  Scotch  thoughtfulness  and  thoroughness, 
in  almost  unexampled  array,  have  been  exerted  in 
proving,  as  nearly  as  they  can  be  proven,  the  claims 
of  the  region  which  afterwards  became  Strathclyde. 

Perhaps  it  is  well  that  there  should  be  this  perma- 
nent diversity.  Perhaps  there  was  a  subtle  discern- 
ment in  the  more  poetic  myth-tale  of  his  career,  which 
wrapped  it  in  glamour  from  the  mist  of  Tintagil  to  the 
mystery  of  Avalon.  And  yet  we  cannot  but  long  to 
know  more. 

Whether  he  came  from  the  northwest  or  the  south- 
west, he  soon  took  rank  as  a  great  leader  of  men,  and 
this  must  have  been  for  one  or  two  reasons.  Either  he 
inherited  supremacy,  or  it  was  given  to  him  by  choice 
for  what  was  in  him  and  what  he  had  done.  These 
have^ever  been  the  ways  of  attaining  such  success. 

Nennius  is  the  first  who  throws  any  light  exactly  on 
this  point.  He  says  that  Arthur  was  chosen  to  com- 
mand; chosen  twelve  times  for  merit  of  his  own; 
chosen  in  preference  to  many  others  of  more  exalted 
birth.  "  Then  it  was  that  the  magnanimous  Arthur, 
with  all  the  kings  and  military  force  of  Britain,  fought 
against  the  Saxons.  And  though  there  were  many 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     135 

more  noble  than  himself,  yet  he  was   twelve   times 
chosen  their  commander,  and  was  as  often  conqueror." 

Now,  assuredly  such  language  could  not  be  applied 
to  the  son  or  the  nephew  of  Ambrosius  Aurelianus. 
In  all  the  island,  who  were  "  more  noble"  than  these  ? 
The  witness  of  Gildas,  though  vague  enough,  is  of  sim-  > 
ilar  purport.  He  berates  the  descendants  of  the  great 
Roman  champion  for  degeneracy;  he  fixes  his  own 
birth-year  by  the  crowning  victory  of  Mount  Badon ; 
but  he  does  not  in  any  way  bring  together  the  two  lines 
of  thought.  The  explanation  is  not  far  to  seek.  If 
Arthur  had  been  really  akin  to  Ambrose,  how  exult- 
antly would  his  praises  have  been  sounded !  If  Ar- 
thur were  distinctively  a  Briton,  how  obstinately  the 
embittered  monkish  partisan  might  set  his  lips  against 
the  least  utterance  of  that  name ! 

In  rebuking  one  of  the  minor  sovereigns,  who  strove 
to  retain  something  of  Arthurian  prestige  after  the 
breaking  up  of  the  Arthurian  empire,  he  makes  use  of 
language  hitherto  overlooked,  which  indicates  that  he 
was  well  aware  of  more  than  he  would  say.  "  And 
thou,  too,  Cuneglasse,"  he  cries,  "  thou  bear,  thou  rider 
and  ruler  of  many,  thou  guider  of  the  chariot  which 
is  the  receptacle  of  the  bear."  Now,  "  the  bear"  is  a 

translation  of  "  Arth  "  and  what  can  the  chariot  be  but 

\ 
great  "Arthur's  wain,"  wheeling,  even  as  now,  in  the 

heavens  ?    Stated  in  full,  it  might  be,  "  And  thou,  too, 


136     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Cuneglasse,  thou  would-be  Arthur,  thou  rider  and 
ruler  of  many,  thou  that  assumest  the  state  and  imperial 
progress  of  the  mighty  departed,  why  art  thou  fallen 
into  the  filth  of  thy  former  naughtiness?"  Yet  not 
even  to  point  a  moral  can  he  bring  himself  to  mention, 
out  of  the  Latin,  that  Celt  of  hardly  decipherable 
origin,  whose  genius  had  stayed  the  Saxon  flood  and 
made  Britain  illustrious. 

We  turn  to  the  testimony  of  the  bards.  They  were 
pre-eminently  the  wake-singers,  the  celebrators  of  the 
far-descended  dead,  the  feast-singers  who  exalted  the 
living  in  their  pedigree.  But,  with  one  doubtful  ex- 
ception, already  noted,  they  tell  us  nothing  whatever  of 
Arthur's  ancestry.  In  Llywarch,  least  professional, 
most  indisputably  antique,  most  noble  and  touching 
and  soldierly  of  them  all,  the  prowess  of  the  Guledig 
appears,  with  little  more.  "Arthur  and  brave  men 
who  hewed  down,"  he  sings  in  one  place ;  "  Arthur  did 
not  retreat"  (according  to  Mr.  Stephens's  revision),  in 
another. 

Taliessin,  more  courtly,  more  pictorial,  but  far  less 
vehemently  in  earnest,  brings  before  us  the  external 
splendor,  the  adventurousness,  the  human-kindly  attri- 
butes of  the  hero.  "Arthur  distributed  gifts," — 
"  Arthur  of  anxious  memory."  "  When  we  went  with 
Arthur,  a  splendid  labor."  "His  swift  irruptions 
and  his  red  purple,  and  his  assault  over  the  wall." 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     137 

"Arthur  and  the  fair  Cai  .  .  .  before  the  chiefs  of 
Einrais  I  saw  Cai." 

Later  from  various  bards  we  hear  of  "  the  steed  of 
Arthur/7  "  the  prowess  of  Arthur,"  "  a  mystery  to  the 
world,  the  grave  of  Arthur."  He  is  cited  by  Aneurin 
as  the  accepted  standard  of  heroism,  the  test,  the  unsur- 
passable ideal.  In  all  this,  hardly  one  word  consistent 
with  a  glorious  lineage;  not  one  inconsistent  with  a 
most  glorious  life.  In  the  triads,  too  (those  that  are 
really  ancient),  and  the  older  elements  of  the  tales 
everything  seems  to  point  the  same  way.  He  may 
have  been  frowned  upon  in  certain  quarters  for  being  a 
brilliant  upstart ;  but  they  left  to  later  generations  the 
depreciation  of  his  merit  by  a  royal  family  tree.  For 
in  truth  he  won  the  purple,  and  defended  it  as  he  de- 
fended the  land  and  the  faith. 

But  these  allusions  prove  and  disprove  much  more. 
He  cannot  have  been,  unless  at  the  very  first,  "the 
petty  prince  of  a  Devonian  principality."  He  must 
have  been  more  than  the  provincial  hero  of  the  Scotch 
lowlands.  If  he  were  ever  in  Armorica,  he  went 
there.  If  he  held  his  most  brilliant  court  at  Caerleon, 
it  may  have  been  because  Wales,  too,  had  a  seaboard 
needing  his  presence  and  watchful  eye.  The  frequent 
recurrence  of  his  name  in  so  many  parts  of  Britain — 
hundreds  of  places  bear  or  have  borne  it — may  surely 
be  taken  as  some  evidence  that  his  coming  and  going 

12* 


138     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

were  once  everywhere  matters  of  expectancy  and  mo- 
ment. The  Britons  award  him,  in  legend,  a  super- 
human celerity  of  movement,  favoring  this  view. 

But  there  is  more  positive  and  explicit  testimony. 
In  the  Red  Book  of  Hergest  are  the  "  Triads  of  Ar- 
thur and  his  Warriors,"  which,  according  to  Mr.  Skene, 
do  not  lie  under  suspicion.  They  begin  thus :  Three 
tribe  thrones  of  the  island  of  Prydain  (Britain).  Ar- 
thur, the  chief  lord  at  Menevia,  and  David,  the  chief 
bishop,  and  Maelgwn  Gwynedd,  the  chief  elder.  Ar- 
thur, the  chief  lord  at  Kelliwig  in  Cornwall,  and  Bishop 
Betwini,  the  chief  bishop,  and  Caradawg  Vriechvras, 
the  chief  elder.  Arthur,  the  chief  lord  at  Penrionyd 
in  the  north,  and  Cyndeyrn  Garth wys,  the  chief  bishop, 
and  Gurthinwl  Guledig,  the  chief  elder."  Here  we 
have  a  well-developed  organization  of  provinces,  with 
a  lieutenant  or  viceroy  over  each  and  a  spiritual  in- 
spirer  to  keep  the  zeal  of  the  fighting-men  astir. 

Yet  as  to  such  matters  there  is  a  mighty  bias  in  the 
place  of  birth.  How  inevitably  the  gravest  Briton 
appropriates  his  Arthur,  even  if  originally  repudiating 
the  former  name !  By  no  means  shall  any  other  corner 
of  the  island  be  allowed  an  equal  right.  Professor 
Freeman,  for  one,  admits  the  leaning  very  candidly, 
and  his  northern  opponents  may  as  well  do  the  same. 
May  an  Anglo-American — absent  a  quarter  of  a  mil- 
lennium from  the  old  home — be  allowed  to  give  a 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     139 

casting  vote?  It  would  certainly  accord  with  the  gen- 
eral understanding  of  English-speaking  and  Welsh- 
speaking  people,  and  the  plain  historic  statement  of 
Nennius.  Local  tradition  has  its  value,  and  a  great  ) 
value ;  but  we  cannot  ignore  the  general  tradition  of 
a  race.  Arthur  was  imperator  of  Britain.  ~~ 

We  need  not  suppose  any  sudden  bound  from  the 
shadow  into  sovereignty.  Mr.  Whittaker  asserts  that 
his  first  northern  victories  were  won  as  the  lieutenant 
of  Ambrose,  though  commanding  an  army.  This 
granted,  there  is  nothing  to  surprise  us  in  his  further 
advancement.  Yet  there  may  well  have  been  great 
towns  and  great  people  .who  did  not  take  kindly  to 
the  rule  of  a  new  man  from  the  west.  A  legend  of 
.London  seems  to  hint  at  some  such  unwillingness. 

There  is  also  an  old  poem — a  metrical  dialogue  trans- 
lated  by  Mr.  Stephens — in  which  Guinevere  is  made  to 
banter  her  suitor  with  his  obscurity.  She  affects  in  the 
beginning  not  to  know  him  at  all.  She  doubts  his 
prowess,  with  a  gently-smiling  face.  She  ridicules  his 
steed  and  taunts  him  into  boasting.  At  last  she  relents 
a  little  and  graciously  admits  having  seen  him  some- 
where once  upon  a  time, — yes, at  Celliwig, — "a  man  of 
moderate  stature  dispensing  wine  to  his  friends." 

In  another,  imperfectly  preserved  by  the  Black  Book 
of  Caermarthen,  she  summarily  denies  him  admittance 
to  her  home,  although  accompanied  by  "the  blessed 


140     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Cai."  The  sportive  lady  even  insinuates  by  a  play  on 
words  that  the  blessing  is  of  the  wine-cellar,  and  that 
her  visitors  are  more  merry  than  safe.  Such  were  the 
trials  of  the  youthful  Arthur  when  he  would  a-wooing 
go.  Or  rather  such  were  the  trials  that  seemed  proba- 
ble to  those  who  lived  we  know  not  just  how  long 
after. 

Yet,  in  this  love-making,  instinct  may  have  aided 
wisdom  to  build  up  his  power.  Geoffrey  makes  him 
choose  his  bride  from  "a  noble  Roman  family"  and 
from  the  household  of  "  Duke  Cador,  of  Cornwall," — 
undoubtedly  Caradoc  Vriechvras.  An  alliance  like 
this  would  all  but  obliterate  the  two  chief  dangers  of 
his  position, — the-jealousy  of  the  Roman  party  and  the 
resentment  of  the  slighted. 

But  he  went  much  farther  in  making  amends  to  that 
prince  "  of  the  brawny  arm."  The  holy  city  of  Ames- 
bury  became  Caer  Caradoc,  where  every  Saxon  inroad 
found  the  blood  of  Ambrose  in  the  post  of  honor. 
He  was  accorded,  as  we  have  seen,  a  kind  of  under- 
kingship  in  the  whole  southwest.  In  the  only  verses 
attributed  to  Arthur,  Caradoc  Vriechvras  is  named  as 
one  of  the  three  "battle  knights"  of  Britain.  And 
when  the  great  imperator  lay  dying  at  Glastenbury 
after  Camlan,  he  passed  the  sovereignty,  we  are  told,  to 
Constantine,  the  son  or  brother  of  Caradoc. 

There  could  be  nothing  of  selfish  planning  in  such  a 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     141 

transfer  at  such  a  time.  Nor  are  we  justified  in  sup- 
posing that  there  had  been  before.  The  prqfoundest 
policy  is  the  instinct  of  the  noblest  minds.  Generosity, 
faith,  and  enthusiasm  work  in  line  with  other  great 
forces  of  the  universe.  As  he  was  situated,  this  be- 
came emphatically  true.  All  his  zeal  for  religion,  all 
his  love  of  country,  all  his  personal  affection,  all  that 
went  to  make  him  "  the  magnanimous  Arthur,"  must 
find  expression  in  aiding  his  great  designs.  If  he 
showed  astuteness  in  matters  of  detail,  it  was  the  bet- 
ter for  all. 

He  was  the  darling  of  the  Celt  from  the  beginning. 
Later,  the  Roman  came  to  him  and  the  young  queen. 
The  "loricated  legions"  had  been  won  early  by  the 
hard  fighting  they  had  seen  him  do.  The  most  zealous 
churchman  could  ask  nothing  better  than  a  monarch 
who  was  so  pre-eminently  a  champion  of  the  cross,  who 
set  the  bishop  everywhere  side  by  side  with  the  local 
king,  and  went  vehemently  into  battle  with  the  Queen 
of  Heaven  painted  upon  his  shield.  It  needed  only 
victory  for  every  faction  to  make  him  its  hero  above 
all.  And  victory  he  gave  them  in  abundance. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

• 

THE  WARS   OF   ARTHUR — IN   THEORY. 

SAYS  Nennius,  "  The  first  battle  in  which  he  was 
engaged  was  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Gleni  (Vatican 
MS.  Glein).  The  second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  were 
on  another  river,  by  the  Britons  called  Duglas,  in  the 
region  Linius.  The  sixth  on  the  river  Bassas.  The 
seventh  in  the  wood  Celidon,  which  the  Britons  call 
Cat  Coit  Celidon.  The  eighth  was  near  Gurnion 
castle,  where  Arthur  bore  the  image  of  the  holy  Virgin, 
mother  of  God,  upon  his  shoulders,  and,  through  the 
power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  holy  Mary, 
put  the  Saxons  to  flight  and  pursued  them  the  whole 
day  with  great  slaughter.  The  ninth  was  at  the  city 
of  Legion,  which  is  called  Cair  Lion.  The  tenth  was 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Trat  Treuroit.  The  eleventh 
was  on  the  mountain  Breguoin,  which  we  call  Cat 
Bregion.  The  twelfth  was  a  most  severe  contest,  when 
Arthur  penetrated  to  the  hill  of  Badon.  In  the  engage- 
ment nine  hundred  and  forty  fell  by  his  hand  alone, 
no  one  but  the  Lord  affording  him  assistance.  In  all 
these  engagements  the  Britons  were  successful,  for  no 
strength  can  avail  against  the  will  of  the  Almighty." 
142 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     143 

This  list  obviously  is  not  complete.  The  twenty 
years  after  Mount  Badon  can  hardly  have  been  years 
of  inactivity.  The  nine  hundred  victims  are  nearly  as 
credible  as  an  uninterrupted  career  of  success  over  such 
enemies  and  in  so  long  a  reign.  Besides,  he  positively 
did  not  drive  out  the  Saxons.  They  outlasted  him, 
and  in  the  end  appropriated  all  the  lowlands  of  Brit- 
ain. We  turn  to  them  for  the  other  side  of  the  story. 

They  have  nothing  whatever  to  say  for  six  years 
after  the  death  of  Natan  Leod.  Then  (514)  "Stuf 
and  Wihtgar  land  in  Cerdic's  Ore  and  suddenly  make  >  \$A. 
war  on  the  Britons,  whom  they  put  to  flight  and  them- 
selves remain  masters  of  the  field."  This  has  the  look 
of  a  forcible  reopening  of  communication  with  Cerdic, 
who  may  have  been  for  a  time  cut  off  from  the  shorq 
by  a  force  approaching  laterally  through  Waltham 
Chase. 

"  Five  years  after  (519)  Cerdic  and  Cynric  fought  a 
battle  against  the  Britons  at  Cerdic's  ford,  on  the  river 
Avene,  and  that  same  year  nominally  began  to  reign." 
This  was  no  doubt  near  Charford,  on  the  Hampshire 
Avon.  It  may  have  been  in  defence  of  the  left  flank 
and  rear.  Or  they  may  have  been  detected  in  an  at- 
tempt to  enter  by  surprise  the  British  territory  through 
the  forest  of  Charwood. 

"  Eight  years  after,  they  renew  the  war  against  the 
Britons." 


144     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

No  particulars  are  given.  There  are  no  other  entries 
of  operations  on  the  mainland  for  more  than  forty 
years.  Thus,  omitting  the  Isle  of  Wight,  we  have, 
during  the  Arthurian  period,  the  mention  of  but  two 
battles,  both  at  the  south,  and  only  one  of  these  is 
insisted  on  as  a  Saxon  victory. 

Llywarch  Hen,  with  a  very  soldierly  frankness,  ad- 
mits a  defeat  at  Llongborth.  "  Before  they  were  over- 
come they  committed  slaughter."  But  we  do  not  know 
with  any  certainty  when  or  where  the  battle  of  Llong- 
borth was.  The  name  would  fit  any  haven  of  ship- 
ping, according  to  one  translation ;  any  long  port,  ac- 
cording to  another.  Certain  villages  bear  it  still ;  but 
such  coincidences  are  often  misleading,  especially  where 
the  nomenclature  is  common  and  descriptive.  Lang- 
port  in  Hampshire  has  thus  been  suggested.  So  has 
the  Charford  battle.  Mr.  Pearson  favors  Dartmouth. 
The  guess  of  Mr.  Sharon  Turner  (Portsmouth)  has 
already  been  given.  But  Geraint  was  slain  at  Llong- 
borth, and  one  of  the  earlier  of  the  Welsh  tales,  which 
are  called  Mabinogion,  represents  him  as  living  until 
Arthur  habitually  held  court  at  Caerleon.  This  is 
likely  to  have  been  after  the  Mount  Badon  encounter, 
the  date  of  which  is  placed  by  Dr.  Guest  at  520,  by 
most  others  at  516.  As  the  mention  of  Geraint's  death- 
fight  is  so  isolated,  we  can  never  hope  to  know  much 
more  about  it. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     145 

Later  writers  add  a  few  details,  more  or  less  reliable, 
from  the  common  traditional  memory  and  opinion  of 
their  time.  Thus,  Higden,  quoted  by  Dr.  Guest : 
"Men  read  in  some  chronicles  that  Cerdicus  fought 
oft  with  Arthur,  and  if  he  were  overcome  he  rose  up 
oft  stronger  to  fight,  and  at  last,  after  six  and  twenty 
years  from  Cerdicus's  coming,  Arthur  was  weary  and 
noyful  of  him,  and  gave  him  Hampshire  and  Somerset 
and  called  that  country  Wessex.  And  he  made  faith 
and  swore  to  him."  This  would  end  the  war  at  the 
south  naturally,  soon  after  the  great  battle  of  Bath  Hill. 
Kudbourne,  we  are  told,  also  mentions  this  treaty. 
Gildas  does  not,  but  plainly  regards  that  victory  as 
opening  an  era  of  comparative  quiet  and  well-being. 
It  has  been  commonly  called  the  Peace  of  Mount 
Badon. 

Here  we  find  Cerdic  put  forward  for  the  chief  an- 
tagonist of  Arthur,  as  might  be  expected.  In  the 
country  between  the  two  northern  walls  that  rSle  is 
given  to  Ossa  Cyllelaur,  most  likely  a  descendant  of 
the  great  Ebissa,  who  probably  took  command  after 
Octa  became  king  of  Kent.  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth 
makes  Arthur  hurry  from  Bath  to  Alcluyd,  then  under 
menace,  and  fight  a  series  of  battles  with  Scots  and 
Picts  and  Saxons  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Lomond,  the 
reconquest  of  all  Valentia  being  the  final  result.  Mr. 
Stuart-Glennie  and  Mr.  Skene  have  fully  shown  that 
Q  k  13 


146     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

the  orally-transmitted  history  of  the  region  goes  far  to 
bear  out  even  this  claim.  Edinburgh  and  Dumbarton 
are  alike  "  Arthurian  localities ;"  and  the  same  is  true 
of  many  an  intervening  river-side  and  stronghold. 

But  the  list  of  Nennius  will  ever  be,  as  it  has  been, 
the  chief  text  of  explainers.  There  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  its  general  accuracy.  The  facts  were  very  con- 
spicuous. They  were  put  on  paper  within  a  century 
and  a  half  or  thereabout  after  the  death  of  Arthur. 
It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  had  been  preserved 
in  the  same  way,  as  well  as  orally,  through  the  inter- 
vening period.  They  are  alluded  to  briefly,  as  we 
might  speak  of  Lutzen  or  Prestonpans,  or  the  storming 
of  Quebec. 

But  what  was  very  plain  in  the  minds  of  men  twelve 
centuries  ago  has  become  a  deplorable  entanglement. 
You  turn  to  the  map  of  England,  and  the  names  are 
duplicated,  and  more  than  duplicated,  in  the  most 
diverse  quarters ;  or  they  are  confusingly  approximated ; 
or  they  are  gone.  Moreover,  the  annotations  and  inter- 
pretations of  the  MSS.,  by  early  and  unknown  hands, 
vary  in  the  several  copies.  Nor  are  men  agreed  as  to 
the  requirements  of  the  situation,  the  relative  position 
and  strength  of  the  contending  parties,  or  the  probable 
sequence  of  events. 

Dr.  Guest  supposes  that  the  Cat  Coit  Celidon  and 
the  battle  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Gleni  were  in  the 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     147 

neighborhood  of  the  Cherwell  valley,  not  very  far  from 
the  famous  White  Horse  of  the  south.  He  gives  no 
reason,  beyond  the  fact  that  it  was  a  convenient  west- 
ward road  for  the  Saxons  to  take.  He  thinks  it  was 
a  favorite  with  them.  But  others  have  found  the 
Gleni  in  Lincolnshire,  in  Northumberland,  and  well 
over  the  Scotch  border ;  while  Celidon  (meaning  merely 
a  wood)  is  equally  identified  with  the  forest  of  Selkirk 
and  with  the  wilderness  between  Penrith  and  Carlisle. 
The  eighth  battle,  we  are  told,  was  either  in  Cornwall 
or  Durham,  or  Norfolk,  or  the  far  northern  Dale  of 
Woe  insisted  on  by  Mr.  Skene.  An  ancient  marginal  : 
note  of  one  version  of  Nennius  identifies  the  mountain 
Breguoin  with  Cadbury  Hill  in  Somerset ;  but  Messrs. 
Skene  and  Sttiart-Glennie  put  it  nearly  at  the  other 
end  of  the  island.  Trath  Traroit  is  the  mouth  of  the 
Bibble  (near  Liverpool),  or  the  arms  of  the  Brue  around 
Glastenbury,  or  the  sands  by  "  Castle  Dangerous." 
Caerleon  becomes  at  will  Exeter,  or  Chester,  or  "  some 
town  at  the  north,"  probably  Alcluyd.  As  for  Bath 
Hill,  it  seems  to  be  found  almost  everywhere  except 
where  in  reason  it  ought  to  be.  After  this  manner  is 
confusion  scientifically  confounded. 

The  contestants  turn  for  ammunition  to  the  writers 
of  older  time ;  but  they  turn  not  always  wisely,  and 
the  result  now  and  then  sets  humor  astir.  Thus  Mr. 
Stuart-Glennie,  in  the  heat  of  his  advocacy  of  Boudon 


148     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Hill,  gravely  calls  Layaraon  into  court  to  witness  that 
"  the  Avon"  flowed  by  Mount  Badon.  Surely, — and 
there  is  a  Devonshire  Avon,  a  Hampshire  Avon,  an 
Avon  which  sees  Bath  and  probably  "  Bath  Hill "  re- 
flected in  its  tide.  Is  it  not  possible  that  Layamon 
had  in  mind  some  other  stream  than  the  all-but- 
unknown  Avon  which  empties  into  the  Firth  of 
Forth? 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  earliest  attempt  at  a  consecu- 
tive explanatory  account  of  those  campaigns  will  be 
found  in  Geoifrey  of  Monmouth.  He  ignores  the 
first  battle  altogether,  perhaps  finding  it  unmanageable, 
and  begins  apparently  with  the  second.  The  Saxons, 
according  to  him,  held  the  northeast,  having  "  subdued 
all  that  part  of  the  island  which  extends  from  the 
Humber  to  the  sea  of  Cathness."  Arthur  was  "  then 
fifteen  years  old,  but  a  youth  of  such  unparalleled 
courage  and  generosity  joined  with  that  sweetness  of 
temper  and  innate  goodness  as  gained  him  universal 
love."  He  took  the  aggressive,  marching  from  Caer- 
leon,  against  York.  The  Saxon  leader  came  forth  to 
meet  him.  They  encountered  by  the  Duglas.  The 
Saxons  were  defeated,  pursued  to  York,  and  besieged 
there.  A  relieving  force  was  waylaid  by  a  detach- 
ment under  Duke  Cador  and  put  to  flight.  A  very 
much  stronger  Saxon  army  came  up  from  the  coast, 
and  Arthur  reluctantly  withdrew  to  London. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     149 

There  he  was  strengthened  by  reinforcements  from 
Brittany,  and  took  the  field  again.  Lincoln  (Caer- 
ludcoit)  was  then  closely  besieged  by  the  enemy.  He 
fell  upon  them  with  great  slaughter.  They  retreated 
to  the  "  wood  of  Celidon,"  where  they  made  a  stand. 
He  felled  the  trees  all  around  them,  and  began  a  regu- 
lar leaguer.  They  endured  this  for  three  days,  and 
then,  "ready  to  starve,"  surrendered.  He  allowed 
them  to  leave  the  island  on  parole.  This  they  broke, 
and,  sailing  around  to  the  coast  of  Devonshire,  landed 
at  Totness.  Before  he  could  return  from  the  north, 
great  devastation  was  done  as  far  as  the  walls  of  Bath. 
He  found  them  there,  drove  them  to  a  neighboring 
"  mountain,"  and  stormed  it  after  a  great  slaughter. 
This  was  the  ruin  of  the  Saxons,  the  very  last  of 
them  being  slain  or  taken  by  Caradoc  in  pursuit. 

This  narrative  is  obviously  incomplete.  Why,  with 
Nennius  before  him,  has  Geoffrey  nothing  to  say  of 
the  other  battles  ?  There  would  be  no  great  difficulty 
in  conjuring  up  some  tale  for  each  and  all.  It  reads 
as  though  he  were  merely  elucidating  the  most  con- 
spicuous items  of  popular  memory.  But,  at  any 
rate  his  account  has  a  value  as  showing  the  common 
British  opinion  of  1147.  Its  Duglas  was  in  Lan- 
cashire ;  its  "  forest  of  Celidon"  was  within  marching 
distance  of  Lincoln;  its  Bath  Hill  was  the  hill  by 
Caer-badus,  the  Aquae  Solis  of  Rome.  Its  Arthur 


150     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

conquered  first  at  the  north,  afterwards  at  the  south, 
later  still  in  the  lowlands  of  Scotland. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  a  more  elaborate  attempt 
was  made  by  Whittaker,  the  Manchester  historian,  to 
whom  Dr.  Guest  was  afterward,  indebted  for  much 
that  is  distinctive  in  matter  and  method..  Thus,  each 
of  them  identifies  Mount  Badon  with  Badbury  Hill, 
shifting  the  victory  to  the  border  of  Wessex.  Also, 
they  agree  in  the  identification  of  Ambrosius  with 
Natan-Leod.  Whittaker  also  set  the  example  of 
pedestrian  investigation,  studying  topography  and 
tradition  on  the  spot.  With  some  obvious  errors  and 
many  misleadings  of  fancy,  he  has  the  merit  of  being 
nearer  the  truth  as  a  whole  than  any  other  inquirer. 

He  believed  that  Arthur  first  encountered  the 
Saxons  in  the  valley  of  the  Dee,  under  the  beleaguered 
walls  of  Chester  (Caer  Ligion),  the  ninth  battle 
being  out  of  its  true  place  in  the  list.  They  were 
driven  beyond  the  Mersey,  he  supposes,  but  rallied  on 
the  next  line  of  defence,  where  its  tributary,  the 
Duglas,  comes  down  from  the  hills  of  the  northwest. 
"  Linuis,"  the  region  of  the  lake,  is  explained  by  the 
presence  of  a  great  mere,  then  the  most  conspicuous 
feature  of  South  Lancashire,  but  now  drained  away. 
What  we  call  "  the  Lake  Country"  was  not  so  very 
distant. 

The  defeated  army  awaited  Arthur  amid  the  ruins, 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     151 

it  may  be  within  the  Roman  walls,  of  the  capitol  of 
the  Sistuntii,  which  they  or  some  earlier  invasion  had 
wasted  utterly.  The  site  was  afterward,  occupied  by 
the  village  of  Blackrode.  We  have  no  details  of  the 
conflict ;  "  the  Duglas  ran  red  all  the  way  to  Wigan." 
So  said  local  tradition  more  than  twelve  hundred  years, 
afterwards.  In  the  end  the  Saxons  gave  way,  following 
the  stream  downward  through  the  woods  and  the 
night. 

Arthur,  following,  brought  them  again  to  bay 
where  Wigan  now  stands,  along  the  hill-sides  and  the 
borders  of  the  thickets.  The  cottagers  told  Whittaker 
of  ancient  warriors,  in  garb  long  unknown  to  men, 
who  still  revisited  as  phantoms  the  scene  where  they 
had  fought  and  died. 

The  fugitives  were  again  driven  from  cover,  hunted 
over  the  ridge,  and  yet  once  more  overtaken  and  fallen 
upon  with  great  slaughter.  Along  their  line  of  flight 
a  belt  fifty  rods  in  length  by  seven  wide  was  thickly 
sown  with  the  bones  of  men.  Horseshoes  by  the 
hundred- weight  have  been  gathered  there.  "What 
remained  of  the  Saxon  army  scattered  through  the 
woods  and  the  marshes. 

But  individually  they' were  helpless;  they  had  no 
right  to  look  for  mercy,  and  they  were  far  from  home. 
In  sheer  desperation,  those  who  crossed  the  river  drew 
together  in  a  small  peninsula,  the  neck  of  which  they 


152     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

fortified.  Here  they  were  safe  for  the  moment/ but 
hopelessly  in  a  trap.  The  situation  was  repeated  when 
Andrew  Jackson  all  but  exterminated  an  army  of  the 
Creeks  at  the  Horseshoe  bend  of  the  Tallapoosa.  It 
may  be  that  hardly  more  than  one  Saxon  carried  the 
news  of  the  four  ruinous  battles  on  the  Duglas  to  the 
forces  gathering  in  Westmoreland. 

Winter  intervened.  The  spring  found  them  hold- 
ing the  line  of  the  Pesa,  a  stream  which  crosses  the 
road  to  Englewood  at  the  southern  border  of  that 
county.  Arthur  found  them  also,  fell  upon  them,  and 
drove  them  to  take  refuge  in  the  depth  of  the  forest. 
Here,  between  the  Loder  and  the  Erimot,  they  built  up 
about  them  a  stone  intrenchment,  using  the  loose  flint 
of  that  district.  He  surrounded  and  utterly  destroyed 
them. 

In  the  next  campaign  he  crossed  the  hills  and  routed 
a  third  army  near  Binchester  in  Durham,  thus  ending 
another  and  more  eastward  Saxon  invasion.  The 
defeated  enemy  withdrew  into  Northumberland  ;  but 
he  tore  this  region  from  them  also,  a  few  months  later, 
by  a  victory  between  the  Till  and  the  Glen.  This  is 
the  Nennius  battle  of  the  Gleni,  which  Whittaker 
restores,  he  thinks,  to  the  pr6per  place  in  the  list. 

Opening  the  next  campaign,  he  fairly  crossed  the  wall 
into  what  we  now  call  Scotland,  overthrew  the  Saxons 
there  settled  at  some  point  on  the  road  to  Edinburgh, 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     153 

and  completed  their  subjection  by  storming  that  all  but 
impregnable  rock  fortress. 

Then  he  was  elected  Pendragon  (Guledig  or  Impera- 
tor)  in  the  place  of  Ambrose,  who  had  recently  been 
slain,  and  hurried  away  to  the  work  of  reorganizing 
the  defeated  southern  army.  As  his  men  grew  more 
confident  he  directed  two  attempts — one  through  Wal- 
tham  chase,  one  through  Char  wood — on  the  communi- 
cations of  Cerdic. 

These  were  foiled,  and  the  latter  advanced  in  turn 
as  far  as  the  fortified  hill  of  Badbury,  commanding 
the  junction  of  two  Roman  roads.  While  the  Saxons 
were  endeavoring  to  take  this  place,  Arthur  fell  upon 
them  with  his  legions,  and  did  such  execution  that 
they  made  no  further  attempt  in  that  quarter  for  the 
next  thirty  years. 

There  is  much  to  be  said  for  this  scheme.  In  all 
that  relates  to  Lancashire  it  has  the  support  of  the 
evidence  of  the  soil  and  the  evidence  of  tradition. 
He  collected  the  legendary  deposit  in  time  to  save 
what  would  probably  now  be  gone.  Sharon  Turner 
gave  him  the  credit  of  definitely  settling  the  Duglas 
battle-fields,  if  no  more.  But  in  the  historical  world 
is  anything  final  ? 

He  is  probably  right  also  in  his  identification  of  the 
Pesa  with  the  Bassas.  The  change  from  Prydain  to 
Britain  affords  a  striking  parallel.  We  may  go  with 


154     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

him  also  into  the  Englewood  for  Cat  Coit  Celidon,  and 
agree  that  "Arthur  at  one  time  captured  Edinburgh. 
Also,  it  seems  true  that  Arthur  went  south  and  fought 
there,  after  a  series  of  brilliant  northern  successes. 

But  the  weak  points  are  obvious.  If  we  may  trans- 
pose the  first  and  ninth  battles  of  the  list,  why  not 
others  as  well  ?  Any  theory  of  them  might  be  proved 
in  that  way.  Moreover,  if  the  Saxon  column  of  the 
west  had  reached  the  very  gates  of  Chester,  why  was 
their  eastern  column  awaiting  an  enemy  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  wall?  Again,  if  there  were  such  a 
fearful  slaughter  and  rout  at  Badbury,  why  did  not 
Arthur  resume  possession  of  the  Hampshire  coast? 
There  is  no  evidence  of  his  having  done  so.  Cerdic 
found  it  British ;  but  he  made  it,  and  left  it,  Saxon. 

Mr.  Skene  takes  a  radically  different  view.  Accord- 
ing to  him,  Arthur  began  by  advancing  into  Scotland 
from  near  Carlisle.  He  met  and  defeated  the  Saxons 
(Angles)  where  the  small  river  Irvine  receives  the  lesser 
waters  of  the  Ayrshire  Glen.  The  "great  struggle" 
of  the  four  battles  belongs  to  the  Lennox  (Linuis) 
region,  near  one  or  the  other  of  two  Duglas  rivers 
which  empty  into  Lake  Lomond.  The  hill  Ben  Ar- 
thur commemorates  his  final  victory.  "  He  advances 
along  the  strath  of  the  Carron  as  far  as  Dunipace, 
where  on  the  Bonny  the  fifth  (sixth?)  battle  is  fought; 
and  from  (sic)  thence  marches  south  through  Tweed- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     155 

dale  or  the  Wood  of  Celyddon,  fighting  a  battle  by  the 
way,  till  he  comes  to  the  valley  of  the  Gala,  or  Wodale, 
where  he  defeats  the  Saxons  of  the  east  coast.  He  then 
proceeds  to  master  four  great  fortresses, — first,  Kairlium, 
or  Dumbarton  ;  next,  Stirling,  by  defeating  the  enemy 
in  the  tratheu  Tryweryd,  or  Carse  of  Stirling ;  then 
Mynyd  Agned,  or  Edinburgh,  the  great  stronghold  of 
the  Picts  here  called  Cathbregion ;  and  lastly,  Boudon 
Hill,  in  the  centre  of  the  country  between  these  strong- 
holds." 

Mr.  Stuart-Glennie  is  of  the  same  mind  in  all  essen- 
tials, after  a  personal  mile  by  mile  investigation  of  that 
region  and  its  people.  The  first  suggestion  of  this 
Scotch  theory  came,  he  supposes,  from  a  writer  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine  of  1842.  Certainly  it  is  of 
recent  date,  unless  in  the  sense  that  fragments  which 
may  be  fitted  into  it  have  long  survived  among  the 
peasantry.  But  they  will  also  accord  with  a  more  com- 
prehensive scheme,  as  I  shall  endeavor  to  show. 

The  attainments  and  ability  of  the  gentlemen  named 
call  for  thoughtful  consideration  of  whatever  they  may 
advance.  Otherwise  there  would  be  a  strong  tempta- 
tion to  regard  this  particular  deliverance  as  a  mere 
freak  of  fancy,  elaborately  justified  after  the  fact.  One 
would  greatly  wish  to  know  the  name  of  that  seductive 
gentleman  of  1842,  who  has  played  with  Scotch  brains 
the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin. 


156     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

For  see,  if  Arthur  conquered  so  sweepingly,  without 
one  break  in  the  tide,  the  great  fighting  country  be- 
tween the  two  walls  and  the  two  seas, — Angles,  Picts, 
Dalraidan  Scots,  and  all, — is  it  in  any  way  credible 
that  he  would  have  rested  there,  with  nearly  the  whole 
of  northern  England  in  the  hands  of  the  Saxon  ?  But 
we  have  yet  to  hear  of  a  southward  campaign  for  the 
recapture  of  Caer  Ebrauc,  of  Cymry  hurrying  from 
Lothian  and  Ayrshire  to  take  in  the  rear  the  troublers 
of  Durham  and  Chester.  And  again,  how  comes  it 
that  Gildas,  who  does  not  even  know  the  name  of  Car- 
lisle, and  has  but  the  vaguest  notion  of  the  great  wall 
itself  and  the  country  about  it,  is  so  marvellously  well 
informed  concerning  Boudon  Hill?  And  yet  again, 
why  has  all  Somersetshire  even  until  now  remained 
full  of  the  doings  of  King  Arthur  ?  No  supposition 
of  migration  from  Cumbria  into  northern  Wales,  of 
infiltration  from  northern  Wales  into  southern, — see 
"  Encyclopaedia  Britannica," — will  be  any  answer  to 
questions  like  these. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  Scotch  hypothesis  offers  no  ex- 
planation of  the  long  palsy  which  bound  the  Saxons 
of  Wessex.  As  little  does  it  help  us  to  understand 
why  there  was  no  overwhelming  rush  of  hostile  Dei- 
rans  from  the  northeast  after  the  death  of  Ambrose. 
What  name  shall  we  give  the  power  that  held  the 
Saxon  of  Yorkshire  and  the  Saxon  of  Hampshire 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     157 

equally  by  the  throat  for  more  than  a  generation  ?  If 
Arthur  were  indeed  far  away  triumphing  in  the  country 
between  the  walls,  then  assuredly  there  was  another 
and  a  greater  Arthur  in  central  and  southern  Britain. 

Mr.  Pearson  has  reverted  partly  to  the  scheme  of 
Geoffrey;  partly  also  to  the  southern  limitations  of  Dr. 
Guest.  With  the  latter  he  omits  all  hypotheses  of 
northern  and  midland  warfare.  With  the  former  he 
assumes  the  disembarkation  of  a  Saxon  army  on  the 
coast  of  Devon.  Geraint  gathers  the  militia  of  the 
district,  and  resists  them  at  Dartmouth,  which  is  Llong- 
borth.  He  is  slain,  his  levies  give  way,  and  the 
Saxons  march  on  Exeter,  which  has  to  do  duty  as  the 
"  city  of  the  legion." 

Arthur  came  up  in  time  to  save  it  by  fighting  and 
winning  his  ninth  battle.  Marching  across  country, 
the  two  bodies  of  men  clashed  together  at  the  Brue 
or  the  Brent,  and  yet  again  at  Cadbury  (Camelot), 
Arthur's  capital.  "  Flushed  with  victory"  (why  ?), 
the  Saxons  then  made  for  Bath.  "Here,  fighting 
with  diminished  forces  against  Arthur's  whole  host, 
they  sustained  a  crushing  defeat." 

This  appeared  about  one  year  previous  to  the  Four 
Ancient  Books  of  Wales;  but  I  am  not  sure  which 
theory  is  the  more  recent.  The  chief  merit  of  Mr. 
Pearson  lies  in  calling  attention  again  to  the  accessi- 
bility of  Bath  by  another  road  than  through  Hamp- 

14 


158     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

shire ;  but  having  carried  the  nautical  explanation  so 
far,  it  is  a  pity  he  did  not  see  how  profitably  it  may  be 
carried  farther. 

Comparing  these  various  explanatory  narratives,  we 
see  that  they,  after  all,  have  several  characteristics  in 
common.  Finding  the  list  of  Nennius  compressed 
into  a  single  section,  they  tend  towards  a  rapid  sequence, 
battle  following  battle  in  one  brief  campaign.  Ex- 
cepting one  or  two,  they  confine  the  Saxon  altogether 
to  the  land,  and  there  is  not  a  single  one  who  will  take 
him  otherwise  to  Cair  Lion.  Hence  we  have  all  sorts 
of  Bath-hills  and  Legion  cities,  with  as  many  ways 
of  getting  to  them.  Finally,  the  recent  critics  fail  to 
grasp  the  situation  at  the  beginning  as  a  whole.  It 
was  not  very  different  from  that  which  afterwards  con- 
fronted Alfred. 

As  to  sequence,  we  must  remember  that  each  item 
loses  prominence  when  events  come  crowding.  Fierce 
and  heavy  fighting  may  recur  with  slight  interval,  but 
the  links  in  the  chain  have  then  no  distinctiveness.  A 
good  case  in  point  is  the  long  duel  between  Grant  and 
Lee,  wherein  daily,  for  weeks,  great  masses  of  men 
were  hurled  against  each  other,  as  the  parallel  lines  of 
march  went  slanting  across  Virginia,  until  one-fourth 
of  the  assailing  army  had  been  consumed.  We  call  it 
the  Wilderness  campaign,  for  it  opened  there ;  but  how 
many,  besides  special  students  of  war,  could  pretend  to 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     159 

name,  one  by  one,  those  tremendous  clashes  of  arms. 
We  may  be  sure  that  a  Nennius,  writing  a  hundred 
years  hence,  would  make  a  lump  of  them  all  in  the 
Wilderness  and  pass  on  at  a  leap  to  Appomattox.  In 
like  manner  the  idea  of  Napoleon  recalls  a  string  of 
salient  names, — Toulon,  the  bridge  of  Arcola,  Marengo, 
the  Pyramids,  Austerlitz,  Jena,  Borodino,  Moscow, 
Leipsic,  Waterloo.  A  chronicler  of  the  olden  time 
was  merely  one  who  put  down  events  like  these,  which 
had  individually  fixed  themselves  in  the  popular 
memory. 

Nennius,  in  four  lines,  recites  four  notable  victories 
of  Vortimer,  though  we  have  good  reason  to  believe 
that  the  fighting  extended  over  more  than  ten  years. 
When  he  comes  to  Arthur  we  find  no  difference  in  the 
mode  of  narration.  There  are  twelve  battles,  each,  as 
before,  representing  the  crisis  or  most  conspicuous 
feature  of  a  campaign.  This,  at  least,  is  a  fair  infer- 
ence. 

As  to  the  overland  illusion,  it  has  been  more  fertile 
than  any  other  in  fancied  obstacles  and  mistaken 
theory.  The  Saxon  assault  was  habitually  ambidex- 
trous, by  land  and  water.  The  army  pressed  forward  ; 
the  navy  swept  by  to  land  a  force  in  the  enemy's  rear. 
The  Britons  found  themselves  between  fires,  or  were 
attacked  where  they  had  felt  very  secure.  The  detour 
over  the  water  grew  larger,  until  in  A.D.  500  the 


160     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Saxons  sailed  around  the  peninsula  Cornwall  and  came 
up  along  the  western  shore.  It  was  a  fresh  and  in- 
viting one.  Thereafter  they  took  that  way  again  and 
again.  The  greatest  lure  in  all  Britain  was  the  now 
growing  wealth  of  its  main  outlet  by  the  Severn  sea. 

As  the  Danes  came  at  Alfred  from  the  northeast  and 
southeast,  the  Saxons  came  likewise  at  Arthur.  Each 
ruler  for  a  time  had  his  head-quarters  in  or  near  Somer- 
set. Each  took  the  offensive-defensive  with  success. 
Arthur  had  against  him  the  necessity  of  resisting  two 
other  lines  of  invasion.  He  had  in  his  favor  the  cer- 
tainty of  a  strong  reinforcement  if  he  could  break 
through  to  the  far  northern  Britons.  Chieftains  like 
Urien  were  there,  and  so  was  whatever  remained  of  the 
old  cosmopolite  soldier-blood. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   WARS   OF   ARTHUR — AS   THEY   WERE. 

LET  us  see  if  we  can  clear  away  the  mist  a  little. 
In  the  battle-section  of  Nennius  we  find  the  names 
of  two  cities,  both  well  known  then  and  existing 
now.  Surely  good  sense  would  suggest  that  we  should 
give  them  their  ordinary  application,  unless  this  in- 
volves a  real  impossibility.  When  Geoffrey  tells  us 
that  Arthur  was  crowned  by  Dubricius,  Archbishop 
of  Legions,  have  we  any  doubt  that  Caerleon-upon- 
Usk  is  meant?  When  the  name  Cairlion  occurs  in 
a  list  of  the  Celtic  city  names,  elsewhere  given  by 
Nennius,  the  identification  is  no  less  prompt  and 
certain.  To  avoid  any  possibility  of  mistake,  he 
carefully  puts  both  titles  together.  It  was  "  at  Urbs 
Legionis,  which  is  called  Cair  Lion."  One  MS.  in- 
deed makes  this  "  Urbs  Leogis,"  which  may  be  a 
misspelling,  or  an  attempt  of  the  transcriber  to  harmo- 
nize the  Latin  title  with  lion.  But  Legionis  is  gener- 
ally admitted  to  be  the  correct  rendering;  and  surely 
we  need  not  go  farther  afield.  Deva  truly  was  Caer 
Ligion,  but  never  Cair  Lion  nor  Cair  Leon;  and  it 
became  Chester;  whereas  the  great  historic  city  of 
l  14*  161 


162     THE   T^0  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Legions  never   has  ceased,  however  shrunken,  to  be 
Qaerleon. 

/  As  to  Mons  Badonieus,  Mount  Badon,  Bath  Hill, 
we  might  rest  on  the  assurance  of  the  Durham  Gildas 
MS.  that  it  is  near  the  Severn.  The  passage  does  not 
occur  in  the  only  other  MS.  copy  now  extant.  This, 
we  are  told,  came  from  the  monks  of  Glastenbury. 
But  who  at  Glastenbury  needed  to  be  told  the  where- 
abouts of  Bath  ?  So  far  away  as  Durham,  there  was 
possibly  more  need  to  be  explicit.  Briefly,  if  Gildas 
wrote  the  sentence,  it  is  conclusive ;  if  it  be  an  inter- 
polation, it  still  has  a  corroborative  value. 

But  the  name  suffices.  It  calls,  first  of  all,  for  a 
great  bathing-place ;  by  natural  implication,  the  great 
bathing-place  of  the  island.  Dr.  Guest  admitted  the 
weakness  of  his  own  hypothesis  when  he  said  that 
it  would  be  strengthened  if  baths  should  be  found  at 
Badbury.  What  could  be  found  there,  or  at  the  Badon 
of  Berkshire,  or  at  the  Scotch  Boudon  Hill,  or  at  any 
other  point  that  wayward  conjecture  has  amused  itself 
with,  to  rival  the  peculiar  glory  of  the  Waters  of  the 
Sun?  Whatever  race  has  come  to  partake  of  their 
healing-power,  the  name  given  to  the  fountain  city  tells 
its  own  tale.  Aquse  Soils,  Caer-Badus,  Bathan-Caester, 
Bath, — a  complete  chain,  with  the  same  idea  in  every 
link.  When  Gildas  wrote,  or  Nennius,  he  can  have 
had  but  this  one  meaning. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.    163 

Caerleon  and  Bath  Hill  are  of  the  later  battles. 
"Whittaker  has  identified  six  for  us  of  the  first  seven. 
But  we  cannot  accept  his  transposition  of  the  Glein  or 
Gleni.  Still  less  can  we  suppose  the  series  to  have 
begun  in  Northumberland.  How  could  Arthur  have 
fought  his  first  battle  so  far  in  the  enemy's  country  ?y 
If  we  take  the  Ayrshire  Glen,  instead  of  the  North- 
umbrian, we  do  not  greatly  help  matters.  That  way 
lies  the  Scotch  hypothesis,  which  we  have  found  to  be 
untenable.  There  remains  only  the  Glem  of  Lincoln- 
shire, which  has  some  advantage  in  name  and  every 
advantage  in  situation.  A  fly-speck  or  accidental  dot 
of  any  sort  will  turn  Glem  into  Glein  or  Gleni.  The 
same  mark,  if  not  placed  with  exactness,  may  be  read 
either  way,  according  to  fancy.  But  Glen  will  not 
become  Gleni  without  adding  an  entire  letter,  nor 
Glein  without  inserting  one.  Moreover,  this  little 
stream  is  in  the  path  of  invasion  of  the  eastern  column, 
passing  by  Lincoln  (Caer-lud-coit,)  towards  Leicester  or 
Verulam.  Somewhere  in  this  vicinity  that  column 
would  naturally  be  encountered.  Its  very  direct  aim  at 
the  vitals  of  the  land  would  compel  the  earliest  atten- 
tion of  the  defenders.  Everything  considered,  we 
need  have  no  hesitation  in  beginning  with  the  Glem. 

In  passing,  I  attach  no  importance  to  "  Bass  Rock" 
and  "  Bass,"  meaning  hill,  which  our  Scotch  friends 
have  been  driven  to  make  the  most  of  in  locating  the 


164     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

sixth  battle.  Nennius  finds  no  difficulty  in  saying 
"  the  stone  by  the  shore  of  the  Gallic  sea,"  or  "  the 
mountain  Breguoin,"  or  "  Mount  Badon."  When  he 
says  "  the  river  Bassas,"  he  means  a  river,  not  a  hillock, 
nor  a  corn-field,  nor  a  silver-mine.  We  have  found 
that  there  is  a  river,  with  substantially  that  name,  in 
precisely  the  right  place. 

Mr.  Whittaker  thought  Gurnion  castle  was  Vmn- 
vium,  or  Binchester  near  Durham ;  but  this  will  hardly 
carry  conviction.  Mr.  Skene  reads  it  Guinnion,  from 
Gwen,  white,  and  looks  about  for  a  white  castle  in 
Scotland.  He  finds  the  trace  of  one  which  may  have 
had  that  aspect ;  also  an  ominous  valley  name,  and  a 
legend  concerning  relics  that  were  once  preserved  there 
appropriate  to  this  crusader-like  battle.  The  story  is 
even  appended  to,  or  inserted  in,  a  rather  late  version 
of  Nennius.  It  may  be  true;  and  yet  the  fighting 
may  have  taken  place  otherwhere.  More  likely  it  is 
only  a  bit  of  fancy-play  in  a  later  time. 

Castle  Gurnion,  or  Guinnion,  must  have  been  widely 
known  throughout  Britain,  or  it  would  have  been  dis- 
tinguished with  more  care  on  the  list.  It  may  be  the 
great  fortress  Garion,  or  Gareoneum,  on  the  site  of  Yar- 
mouth. We  can  understand  a  zealous  rally  to  save 
the  last  remaining  stronghold  of  the  Saxon  shore,  the 
last  bit  of  land  between  Kent  and  Caithness  where  the 
cross  might  yet  be  upreared.  It  may  have  been  still 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     165 

in  British  hands,  though  under  frequent  or  continual 
beleaguerment. 

Or,  if  we  must  choose  a  white  castle,  why  not  take 
that  which  was  pre-eminent  in  all  the  land  ?  The  bards 
were  in  no  doubt  of  being  understood  when  they  sung 
the  White  Hill  of  Cynvelyn.  Bran,  who  "  was  exalted 
from  the  throne  of  London,"  found  burial  there,  as  the 
story  ran,  his  face  being  set  towards  France,  that  he 
might  still  frighten  enemies  from  the  city.  A  doubtful 
addition  to  the  Triad  makes  Arthur  "  discover"  this 
magical  head,  being  unwilling  that  London  should 
owe  safety  to  any  power  but  his  own.  If  this  embodies 
any  truth  at  all,  the  Guledig  would  stand  committed 
to  some  proof  of  prowess  before  the  walls ;  and  what 
could  have  been  more  striking  than  the  one  said  to  have 
been  chosen  ?  His  onslaught  would  then  be  a  double 
one, — on  the  superstition  as  well  as  the  Saxon.  He  bla- 
zoned on  his  shield  the  sweet  face  of  Mary  of  Galilee, 
and  drove  the  routed  heathen  before  him  all  the  day. 

This  solution  is  not  advanced  with  absolute  assur- 
ance, but  it  can  hardly  be  called  improbable.  The 
absence  of  the  name  of  the  city  is  perhaps  an  objection. 
But  London  may  have  become  a  fortress,  with  very 
little  more,  by  then.  Its  most  conspicuous  feature 
would  be  the  strong  white  tower  or  castle.  The  place 
is  identified  in  this  way  by  Taliessin,  or  whoever  wrote 
the  poem  attributed  to  him  in  Gunn's  edition  of  the 


166     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Vatican  Nennius.  He  has  not  a  word  to  say  of  Lon- 
don-town. He  finds  the  White  Hill  more  conspicuous 
without  it. 

The  tenth  battle  offers  another  difficult  problem. 
The  name  is  spelled  in  divers  ways  by  different  copies, 
Trath  Tribruit  being  one  of  these.  At  the  other  ex- 
treme is  the  Tratheu  Trywruid  of  the  bards,  which 
Mr.  Skene  considers  the  parent  form.  Tratheu,  he 
says,  abbreviated  sometimes  to  trath  or  traeth,  means 
the  sandy  shore  of  an  estuary,  or  at  least  a  beach.  We 
have  then  to  look  for  a  river  having  a  name  that  might 
have  been  developed  from  the  same  stem  as  Tribruit 
and  Trywruid ;  a  river  with  a  sandy  estuary ;  a  river 
where  the  Saxons  might  land  as  enemies,  or  otherwise 
come  into  collision  with  the  Britons. 

There  is  nothing  along  the  southern  or  eastern  coast 
of  Britain  answering  these  requirements.  Mr.  Skene 
takes  us  to  the  far  northern  frontier,  on  the  plea  that 
the  Forth  was  at  one  time  called  Werid,  which  would 
make  the  battle-field  Tratheu  Werid,  or  Trath  Wruid. 
But  what  becomes  of  the  first  syllable,  Try  or  Tri  ? 
Moreover,  how  came  Arthur  so  early  at  Stirling  ?  The 
interval  between  this  and  the  Pesa  (as  yet  his  most 
northern  point  that  we  know  of)  is  not  much  less  than 
that  between  London  and  Liverpool.  We  might  as 
well  send  him  to  Shetland  as  to  the  Firth  of  Forth  in 
one  campaign.  * 


KJV 

V 


33ITY 
THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     167 

On  the  western  coast  it  certainly  cannot  be  the 
Severn,  the  Mersey,  the  Liddel,  the  Avon,  the  Clyde, 
or  the  Dee.  Mr.  Pearson  has  suggested  the  Brue ;  but 
the  Brue  has  no  considerable  estuary.  We  seem  to  be 
restricted  to  the  Kibble,  which  answers  every  require- 
ment, unless  it  be  that  of  name.  I  do  not  know  its 
etymological  history ;  but  there  is  no  greater  gap  be- 
tween Trath  Tribruit  and  Trath  Kibble  than  between 
Trath  Tribruit  and  Tratheu  Trywruid.  A  little 
more  transformation  ought  not  to  stagger  our  faith. 
Moreover,  if  the  battle  were  not  there,  where  was  it  ? 

This  leaves  only  the  eleventh  engagement,  the  name 
of  which,  in  one  form,  has  been  given.  Mr.  Skene 
quotes,  "  in  monte  dicitur  Agned,"  and  says,  further, 
"  one  MS.  adds  €  Cathregonnum/  and  another  '  contra 
illas  que  nos  Cathbregyon  appelamus/ ;;  Now,  Cat 
means  battle.  He  explains  elsewhere  that  the  root  of 
Brithwyr  and  Cath-Bregion  is  Brith,  feminine  Braith, 
Brych,  done  into  Gaelic  as  Breac.  This  word,  he  says 
later,  "  in  its  primary  sense  means  speckled  or  spotted ; 
but  in  a  secondary  sense,  mixed,  and  may  indicate  a 
mixed  people."  Agned,  he  thinks,  may  be  derived 
from  "  agneaied,"  an  obsolete  word  meaning  "  painted." 
Now,  the  Picts  about  Edinburgh  were  partly  Cymric, 
partly  Saxon,  and  very  much  adorned  with  woad. 
Therefore,  reasons  he,  with  the  Picts  at  Edinburgh 
Arthur  must  have  fought. 


168     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

But  Nennius  gives  this  as  one  of  the  battles  against 
the  Saxons;  and  Edinburgh,  like  Stirling,  is  too 
far  away.  Moreover,  the  obvious  rendering  would 
be  the  particolored  or  painted  mount,  and  the 
people  of  the  painted  mount,  not  the  particolored  or 
painted  people  and  the  mount  of  the  painted  people. 
"  Mynyd  Agned"  is  indeed  "  painted  mount/'  and  that 
only ;  and  this  is  the  name  given  by  Taliessin  to  the 
battle-site. 

Now,  Camelot  was  set  on  a  hill,  bright  with  flags 
and  armor,  belted  with  rings  of  earthwork,  in  flower 
with  varied  architecture,  the  palace  of  Arthur  being 
uplifted  over  all.  It  was  the  frontier  capital,  the  bril- 
liant, daring,  fighting  battle^city,  ever  expecting  attack. 
It  deserved  a  better  epithet  than  "  painted ;"  but  that 
is  not  so  widely  amiss  in  the  language  of  a  primi- 
tive time.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  fierce  contention 
there,  perhaps  more  than  once,  between  Briton  and 
Saxon.  The  modern  name  Cadbury  may  refer  thereto. 
It  is  thus  identified,  we  know  not  by  what  early  hand, 
in  one  MS.  copy  of  Nennius.  We  cannot  do  better 
than  accept  the  identification. 

The  true  story  of  the  Arthurian  campaigns  would 
seem  to  be  this.  At  the  same  time  with  the  grand  as- 
sault of  Cerdic,  at  Netley,  or  in  the  confusion  following 
the  death  of  Ambrose,  the  northern  Saxons  came 
crowding  down,  after  their  usual  fashion,  with  one 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.    169 

column  on  each  side  of  the  back-bone  of  the  island. 
Arthur,  issuing  from  Caer  Lerion  (formerly  Ratae,  now 
Leicester),  or  possibly  advancing  up  the  Ermine  way, 
met  their  northeastern  army  as  it  descended  or  crossed 
the  valley  of  the  Glem ;  drove  it  back  to  the  mouth 
of  that  stream,  and  there  inflicted,  on  the  shore  of 
the  Wash,  a  defeat  whereby  men  chiefly  remembered 
the  campaign.  The  Saxons  may  have  taken  to  their 
boats,  and  escaped  him  by  sea.  One  result  of  his 
victory  was  the  relief  of  Caer-lud-coit  (Lindom,  Lin- 
coln), which  had  long  been  standing  isolated  beyond 
the  true  border.  Geoffrey  puts  this  later,  but  we 
cannot  trust  him.  No  doubt  the  uplands  of  Lincoln- 
shire were  regained. 

At  the  west,  the  border-line  had  been  carried  back 
to  the  Mersey.  Chester  was  in  danger.  The  young 
general  went  to  its  relief;  took  the  offensive;  pressed 
the  Saxons  northward  to  the  Duglas,  and  struck  them 
a  severe  blow  near  Wigan.  Perhaps  for  the  time  he 
drove  them  from  the  little  valley. 

But  they  returned  in  greater  force  the  next  season, 
and  the  next,  and  the  next.  The  bone  of  contention 
was  there,  in  spite  of  indecisive  victory,  until  at  last 
he  was  able  to  drive  them  bodily  north  as  far  as  West- 
moreland. A  final  success  on  the  Pesa  made  a  com- 
plete clearance  of  all  that  region.  No  doubt  it  put 
him  at  once  in  communication  with  the  doughty 
H  15 


170     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

chieftains  who  were  fighting  independently  near  the 
great  wall. 

But  the  Deirans  of  York  were  unbroken  as  yet, 
although  beaten  back  along  both  lines  of  approach. 
They  invented  a  third,  by  way  of  surprise,  and  fell  into 
a  trap,  whence,  by  all  accounts,  none  issued  alive  and 
free.  Hardly  any  other  event  made  a  deeper  impress 
on  the  minds  of  that  generation  than  this  total  over- 
throw in  the  haunted  wood  of  Celidon.  The  recovery 
of  York  perhaps  followed  it. 

Now  the  scene  moves  to  the  southward.  At  this 
time  Arthur  may  first  have  been  formally  invested 
with  the  supreme  command  throughout  Britain.  As 
Guledig  or  Imperator,  what  a  claim  London  must  have 
had  upon  him ! — the  most  renowned  of  all  his  cities, 
though  fallen  into  decay;  the  most  recalcitrant,  and 
thus  in  need  of  conciliation ;  the  most  endangered,  so 
requiring  aid !  He  found  her  with  the  enemy  before 
the  walls,  the  irrational  hope  of  superstition  in  her 
heart.  By  an  act  of  angry  policy,  none  the  less  effec- 
tive, he  scattered  at  once  the  megrims  of  his  adherents 
and  the  forces  of  the  enemy.  What  the  head  of  Bran 
could  never  have  done,  was  the  work  of  the  shield 
which  bore  the  blessed  Queen  of  Heaven.  Before  it 
the  Saxon  rout  went  wildly  towards  the  sea.  London 
was  all  for  Arthur.  Arthur  it  may  have  been  who 
gave  her  in  return  that  wide  circle  of  defences  which 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     171 

Dr.  Freeman  has  traced  on  the  eastward  along  the  hills 
of  Lexden.  Camulodunum  was  within  the  enclosure, 
and  so  was  the  best  of  Essex.  Probably  even  a  part 
of  the  Caint  came  under  her  sway.  How  the  historic 
city  must  have  bloomed  again  and  hoped  again  ! 

But  while  reawakening  the  southeast,  Arthur  may 
well  have  neglected,  without  fault,  the  far  southwest, 
which  would  seem  almost  beyond  reach  of  the  enemy. 
At  any  rate,  he  was  too  far  away  to  know  promptly  of 
any  assault  and  repel  it  in  the  beginning.  Cerdic  from 
his  lair  by  the  Itchin  saw  the  opportunity.  He  had 
taken  that  water-way  before,  and  with  deadlier  intent 
he  took  it  again.  The  white  sails  brightened  and 
darkened,  and  the  long  oars  flashed  in  lifting,  all  along 
the  southern  Devonian  shore.  They  rounded  the  rough 
promontory  of  Land's  End.  They  came  sweeping 
back  off  the  northern  coast.  And  soon  all  the  bevy 
of  cities  about  the  Severn  River  and  the  Severn  sea 
were  fluttering  and  arming,  while  the  country-side 
poured  in.  Riding  secure  in  the  open  water,  the 
spoiler  made  choice  at  leisure  of  his  prey.  He  bent 
his  swoop  on  the  legion  city,  the  crowned  Caerleon. 

But  the  walls  were  strong,  and  men  rode  night  and 
day  across  the  width  of  Britain  to  warn  Arthur.  By 
night  and  day,  when  the  news  reached  him,  we  may  be 
sure  he  came  hurrying  back  with  his  veterans,  the  men 
of  Duglas  and  Celidon.  An  ever-growing  force,  for 


172     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

all  the  midland  country  must  have  been  streaming 
towards  and  after  him.  When  that  comet  broke  on  the 
astounded  Saxons,  there  was  shattering  and  splintering ; 
and  the  ocean  took  them,  and  Caerleon  was  free. 

Arthur  now  adopted  for  the  south  and  southwest  a 
comprehensive  system  of  defence.  According  to  a  local 
writer  of  Somerset,  the  distinguishing  feature  of  this 
was  a  triangle  enclosing  a  triangle,  every  corner  of  each 
a  formidable  stronghold.  The  inner  line,  twelve  miles 
every  way,  was  marked  by  the  fortresses  of  Mons 
Acutus  and  Tor  Hill  and  the  trebly-fortified  hill-city  of 
Camelot ;  the  outer  line  by  St.  Michael's,  Mount  Game- 
lot,  and  Caerleon.  They  thus  came  together  in  a  single 
southeastern  apex,  doubly  based  and  doubly  braced, 
pointing  like  a  spear-head  at  Cerdic  in  his  lair.  Be- 
yond it,  that  way,  were  outlying  fortresses,  which  no 
doubt  had  their  share  of  strengthening.  Farther  west, 
in  what  we  now  call  Cornwall,  are  notable  earthwork 
remains  that  still  bear  the  name  of  Arthur.  Much  of 
the  protective  work  of  the  western  cities  may  probably 
be  referred  to  the  same  active  time. 

But,  as  before,  the  enemy  struck  at  a  remote  point, 
while  the  work  of  fortifying  was  going  forward.  Per- 
haps Cerdic  had  not  yet  withdrawn  beyond  Bristol 
channel.  Or  he  may  have  taken  refuge  in  Ireland, 
soliciting  the  ready  aid  of  Scottish  marauders.  In  any 
case  he  selected  the  shore  north  of  Wales  for  his  de- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     173 

scent.  And  now  again  Arthur  must  hurry  away,  to 
defend,  as  in  five  earlier  campaigns,  the  thriving  city 
by  the  Dee.  Near  it,  or  beyond  it,  he  met  the  enemy, 
and  drove  them  from  point  to  point,  overwhelming 
them  at  last  in  the  act  of  embarking  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Eibble. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  growth  of  vindictive- 
ness  in  Cerdic.  Baffled  again  and  again,  he  made  right 
for  the  throat  of  his  adversary,  when  once  more  able 
to  take  the  field.  Passing  between  the  impregnable 
Sorbiodunum  and  that  Caer  Caradoc,  where  the  son  of 
Ambrose  kept  watch  over  the  border^  the  Saxon  broke 
through  to  Camelot. 

Here  was  the  palace  of  his  arch-enemy,  the  city  of 
that  enemy's  creation.  Wild  with  delight,  the  Saxons 
came  rushing  up  the  slope  and  swarming  over  the 
outer  earthwork  ring.  In  hot  counter-charges  the 
Britons,  favored  by  position,  drove  them  back  again 
and  again.  As  the  one  army  weakened,  far  from 
home,  the  other  grew.  Soon  the  whole  region  was 
alive,  so  that  Cerdic  could  neither  advance  nor  stand 
still.  At  the  first  indication  of  giving  way,  we  may 
judge  how  Arthur  would  fall  on  him  from  the 
"  painted  mountain"  with  his  men.  We  may  see  the 
swarm  of  missiles  from  every  side,  the  incursions  and 
the  cuttings-off  incident  to  their  retreat.  In  repassing 
the  outlying  fortresses  there  must  have  been  hand-to- 

15* 


174     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

hand  work,  to  get  by  at  all.  When  Cerdic  had  safely 
regained  Winchester  he  may  well  have  given  up  the 
overland  route  as  ruinous,  while  there  should  be  an 
Arthur  in  the  way. 

Yet  he  gathered  all  his  forces  in  a  final  effort,  this 
time  choosing  for  his  descent — as  once  before — the 
western  side.  His  first  object  was  the  sacking  of  that 
soft,  luxurious  bathing  city  where  more  of  Rome  yet 
lingered  than  elsewhere  in  the  island,  about  the  upwell- 
ing  waters  of  the  sun.  It  was  a  repetition  of  the  Caer- 
leon  campaign,  with  this  change  of  object  and  a  more 
decisive  issue.  Again  Arthur  came  on  the  invading 
army  before  it  could  beat  down  the  walls  or  climb  over 
them.  Of  necessity  Cerdic  turned  to  face  him,  "  the 
Saxons,"  says  Geoffrey,  being  "  drawn  out  in  the  shape 
of  a  wedge  as  their  manner  was.  And  they,  notwith- 
standing that  the  Britons  fought  with  great  eagerness, 
made  a  noble  defence  all  that  day;  but  at  length, 
towards  sunsetting,  climbed  up  the  next  mountain, 
which  served  them  for  a  camp,  for  they  desired  no 
larger  extent  of  ground,  since  they  confided  very  much 
in  their  numbers.  The  next  morning  Arthur  with  his 
army  went  up  the  mountain,  but  lost  many  of  his  men 
in  the  ascent,  by  the  advantage  which  the  Saxons  had 
in  their  station  at  the  top,  whence  they  could  pour, 
down  upon  him  with  much  greater  speed  than  he  was 
able  to  advance  against  them.  Notwithstanding,  after 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     175 

a  very  hard  struggle,  the  Britons  gained  the  summit  of 
the  hill  and  quickly  came  to  a  close  engagement  with 
the  enemy." 

Then  follows  a  truly  marvellous  account  of  single- 
handed  prowess,  indicating  that  Arthur  led  a  furious 
final  charge,  and  the  Saxons,  hemmed  in  on  every 
side,  went  down  by  thousands.  No  greater  defeat 
ever  befell  them.  Cerdic  renounced  all  further  aggres- 
sion, Arthur  conceding  him  the  part  of  Hampshire 
where  he  had  now  been  settled  so  long.  The  war  with 
Wessex  was  ended. 

The  exact  site  of  this  memorable  achievement  may 
have  been  Solsbury  Hill,  near  Bath,  where  Mr.  Earle 
has  found  the  indications  of  an  ancient  fort. 

Eight,  or  perhaps  even  twelve,  years  had  been  con- 
sumed by  this  series  of  campaigns.  They  were  conclu- 
sive as  to  the  mainland  of  what  we  now  call  England, 
if  we  except  hostilities  vaguely  indicated  in  527,  an 
entry  which  after  all  may  refer  to  the  beginning  of  the 
conquest  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  While  Arthur  lived, 
no  Saxon  ever  dared  to  stir  with  hostile  intent  beyond 
a  narrow  fringe  of  coast-line,  mainly  at  the  southeast. 
Nor  was  there  a  single  expedition  in  force  from  the 
Continent,  such  as  we  have  heard  of  before,  and  shall 
hear  of  again,  unless  we  are  to  so  regard  the  appear- 
ance of  a  Saxon  dynasty  in  Essex. 

But  there  was  work  yet  awaiting  Arthur.      Berne- 


176     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

cian  Angles  had  overrun  the  eastern  and  middle 
Scotch  lowlands,  and  were  threatening  the  cities  of 
the  west.  Much  of  the  country  that  they  held  had 
been  theirs  for  generations,  but  the  Lennox  region  was 
lately  won.  Arthur  moved  northward  to  dispossess 
them.  In  a  series  of  battles  against  a  composite  force 
of  Angles,  Picts,  and  Scots  he  made  Loch  Lomond 
and  its  tributary  valleys  British  again. 

Before  or  after  this,  or  both,  he  made  Carlisle  his 
head-quarters,  giving  life  to  the  still  surviving  crop  of 
Arthurian  legends.  He  perhaps  reoccupied  and  re- 
stored York,  as  Geoffrey  tells  us.  Entering  Scotland 
again,  in  a  series  of  battles  he  overcame  the  Saxons 
there  settled  as  far  as  the  carse  of  Stirling  and  the 
eastern  sea,  took  by  storm  or  blockade  the  almost 
impregnable  Pictish  fort  at  Edinburgh,  and  gave  the 
dominion  of  the  conquered  country  in  equal  shares  to 
three  young  northern  chieftains,  Urien  being  the  most 
noted. 

Some  years  of  his  life  must  have  been  devoted  to 
this  great  work  between  the  walls.  Perhaps  the  sec- 
ond Guinevere,  whom  we  learn  of  through  Welsh 
legend,  belongs  to  that  period,  as  she  came  from  the 
family  of  a  Scottish  king.  She  was  the  best  beloved 
of  the  three.  The  unfaithful  and  ruinous  one  followed 
her.  All  had  golden  locks,  the  especial  admiration 
of  the  Celt.  The  second  only  was  found  buried  by  his 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.    177 

side,  her  sunny  hair  yet  bright  and  fresh,  a  graven 
inscription  preserving  her  name. 

So  ran  the  mediaeval  tale;  but  modern  research 
attributes  the  revelation  to  priestly  and  kingly  art. 
We  do  not  certainly  know  that  there  was  more  than 
one  Guinevere.  A  single  personality,  differently  seen 
and  reported,  may  well  have  been  broken  into  three. 
Gildas  and  Merlin  underwent  a  similar  division,  with 
no  just  cause,  to  the  great  distress  of  inquirers.  We 
are  learning  to  piece  them  together  again. 


CHAPTEE   XL 

THE   EMPIEE   OF   ARTHUR. 

IN  the  Middle  Ages  a  multitude  of  impossible  adven- 
tures and  achievements  were  invented,  to  fill  up  his 
riper  years.  One  of  these,  the  war  against  Rome, 
though  possibly  suggested  by  that  of  Maxen  Wledig, 
may  contain  a  kernel  of  truth.  It  would  be  sur- 
prising if  the  great  British  ruler  did  not  cross  the 
Channel  into  the  lesser  Britain.  Once  there,  he  could 
hardly  attempt  any  military  movement  without  find- 
ing "  Roman"  enemies.  The  fragments  of  that  empire, 
the  remote  half-bred  or  quarter-bred  descendants  of  its 
colonies  and  legions,  held  vehemently  by  the  name. 
Arthur,  now  assured  in  pqwer,  may  have  been  more 
obviously  a  Celt  than  ever.  Here  was  an  opening  for 
discord. 

Wherever  he  went,  or  whatever  he  did,  Brittany 
accepted  him  with  devotion.  It  discovered  a  new 
Avalon ;  it  gave  Merlin  his  magic  sleep  in  the  forest 
of  Broceliande ;  it  made  a  second  Camelot  of  Carduel. 
Its  wild  chants  perpetuate  the  sudden  onslaught  of 
Arthur,  deemed  afar,  the  glimmering  over  the  moun- 
tain of  his  armored  host.  Almost  within  the  memory 
178 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     179 

of  living  men,  the  name  of  this  national  hero  has 
gone  into  battle  with  the  shouting  Breton.  The  songs 
that  tell  of  his  glory  have  not  died  away  even  now. 

Perhaps — and  legend  says  so — therein  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  So  long  an  absence,  with  so 
many  of  his  soldiery,  would  be  sure  to  awaken  dis- 
content. This  gathered  about  a  popular  chief,  son  of 
that  Llew  to  whom  Arthur  had  given  rule  in  the  Lo- 
thians.  The  half-conquered  Saxons  and  other  heathen 
folk  were  very  willing  to  volunteer  for  service  under 
him.  Maelgwn  (Lancelot),  of  North  Wales,  the 
strongest  man  left  in  Britain,  was  thinking  more  of 
the  Guinevere  than  of  his  duty  to  their  absent  lord. 
But  the  tidings  were  borne  to  Arthur,  and  he  came 
rushing  back  with  a  bitter  heart,  meeting  a  welcome 
death  in  the  hour  of  victory. 

A  whole  cycle  of  tales  and  poetry  gathered  about 
this  ending  as  time  went  by.  Yet  the  spot  is  uncer- 
tain still.  There  are  those  who  find  it  by  the  bank  of 
a  Cornish  river ;  to  Tennyson  it  is  hidden  forever  with 
Lyonesse,  that  lost  land  of  the  sea ;  and  the  Scotch- 
man with  greater  conviction,  identifies  a  Camlan  or 
Camelon  amid  his  own  lakes  and  heather.  It  does 
not  seem  to  be  quite  literally  true  that  all  "King 
Arthur's  table,  man  by  man,  had  falPn"  in  "  this  last 
weird  battle  of  the  west,"  or  northern  moorlands.  We 
meet  with  some  of  them  again.  But  the  loss,  as  at 


180     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Arderydd,  was  no  doubt  a  national  calamity,  for  free 
Britain  followed  Arthur  in  mighty  downfall.  Supreme 
in  the  last  hour  of  his  life,  he  passed,  and  no  man 
knew  whither ;  but  hope  went  with  him.  His  burial, 
if  burial  there  were,  remained  "  a  mystery  to  the 
world/'  The  Briton,  harried  and  suffering,  found 
comfort  in  the  insane  delusion  of  his  coming  again. 

It  matters  little  whether  we  call  Arthur  king  or 
emperor  or  guledig.  Whatever  his  title,  to  such  a 
man  in  such  a  time  all  the  essentials  of  sovereignty 
would  certainly  come.  His  story  is  that  of  a  military 
chieftain,  who  conquered  peace  and  kept  it,  filling  the 
land  with  high  ideals  and  chivalric  examples  for  many 
years.  In  the  great  mass  of  legendary  lore  which  has 
come  down  to  us  through  every  channel  of  Europe,  we 
find  this  conception  repeated  and  glorified.  It  has 
constituted  the  abiding  memory  of  mankind. 

Nor  are  we  without  some  direct  and  positive  evidence 
of  that  period.  Says  Gildas,  writing  of  the  great 
victory  of  Mount  Badon  and  what  followed,  "  For 
as  well  the  remembrance  of  such  a  terrible  desolation 
of  the  island,  as  also  of  the  unexpected  recovery  of  the 
same,  remained  in  the  minds  of  those  who  were  eye- 
witnesses of  the  wonderful  events  of  both,  and  in  regard 
thereof  kings,  public  magistrates,  and  private  persons, 
with  priests  and  clergymen,  did  all  and  every  one  of 
them  live  orderly  according  to  their  several  vocations." 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     181 

Such  is  the  witness  of  a  contemporary  of  King  Arthur, 
—  one  who  is  thought  to  have  been  a  scribe  and  holy 
man  in  his  court  at  Caerleon,  yet  who 


thing  to  praise  in  the  doings  of  humankind. 

It  was  very  certainly  a  brilliant,  active  epoch.  Even 
science,  of  the  empirical  sort  which  alone  was  possible 
in  those  days,  had  some  share  of  attention.  We  find 
the  son  of  Arthur  especially  commended  in  the  Triads 
for  his  zeal  in  that'  regard.  We  hear,  rather  amusingly, 
of  Merlin  and  his  nine  scientific  bards,  and  of  "  bat- 
talions of  scientific  ones."  Probably,  as  with  the  occult 
of  our  own  day,  science  and  necromancy  were  not  well 
divided. 

But  in  literature  that  period  shone,  being  indeed  the 
first  of  the  great  eras  of  British  poetry.  To  Arthur 
himself  are  credited  some  spirited  verses  in  praise  of 
his  three  "  battle-  knights."  The  aged  Merlin,  —  prince, 
minister,  magician,  and  poet,  —  threw  the  whole  weight 
of  his  influence  and  example  the  same  way.  Llywarch, 
prince  of  Argoed,  began  his  career  of  arms  and  song 
under  Arthur,  although  it  may  well  be  that  his  most 
moving  elegies  were  not  composed  until  after  the  death 
of  his  hopes,  his  kindred,  and  the  great  king.  Aneurin, 
Taliessin,  and  Cian  belong  in  part  to  the  later  hours  of 
the  same  golden  day.  They  sang  on  in  the  starlight. 

De  Villemarque  fixed  indeed  a  much  earlier  date 
for  Cian  Gwenclan  (the  pure  of  blood),  but  in  this  he 

16 


182     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

is  at  odds  with  Nennius.  He  has  done  better  service 
in  rescuing  a  fragment  or  two  of  this  bard,  which  have 
been  kept  alive  by  oral  recitation  these  thirteen  hun- 
dred years  in  a  corner  of  Brittany.  According  to  this 
investigator,  there  was  a  MS.  volume  of  Cian's  poems 
in  existence  near  the  end  of  the  last  century.  It  per- 
ished with  the  monastery  which  gave  it  shelter,— one 
of  the  many  calamities  of  the  French  Revolution. 

Cian  does  not  appear  at  all  in  the  Four  Ancient 
Books  of  Wales,  translated  and  edited  by  Mr.  Skene ; 
but  we  have  specimens  there  from  divers  lesser  bards ; 
although  Taliessin,  Aneurin,  Llywarch,  and  Merddin 
make  up  the  body  of  the  metrical  array.  Unfortunately 
there  is  no  doubt  that  some  of  these  productions  are 
spurious  or  have  undergone  manipulation.  Others  are 
subjects  of  controversy  among  the  most  erudite.  Even 
in  those  of  agreed  antiquity  passages  occur  to  which 
we  have  lost  the  clue,  and  which  read  like  fantastic 
nonsense. 

This  may  be  in  part  because  of  allusion  to  tales  now 
long  forgotten,  or  the  introduction  of  magical  formulae 
and  far-fetched  allegory.  But  much  must  also  be  laid 
to  the  uncertainties  of  translation  when  dealing  with 
words  that  have  long  been  obsolete.  Thus  the  very 
oldest  relic  of  Celtic  verse  which  we  possess — older 
by  perhaps  three  hundred  years  than  even  the  Black 
Book  of  Caermarthen — has  been  variously  construed  as 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     183 

the  "  trifling  effusion"  of  a  young  officer  in  the  Pictish 
army,  who  went  on  a  guard  with  a  copy  of  Juvencus, 
a  Frank  servant,  and  a  copper  kettle ;  as  the  protest 
of  an  aggrieved  bard,  who  will  by  no  means  become 
musical  until  assured  of  his  dinner ;  and  as  the  lamen- 
tation of  Llywarch  of  Argoed,  when  left  to  his  evil 
fortune  with  but  a  single  follower. 

Happily  the  case  is  not  usually  so  extreme.  Talies- 
sin  may  treat  us  mockingly  to  "  a  primitive  and  in- 
genious address,  when  thoroughly  elucidated ;"  but  he 
often  chooses  to  be  comprehensible.  Llywarch  is 
always  as  direct  and  human,  as  martial  or  touching, 
as  need  be.  There  is  no  misunderstanding  the  universal 
language. 

Making  every  allowance,  we  are  fairly  well  enlight- 
ened as  to  the  poetry  of  that  great  era.  We  can  even 
imperfectly  distinguish  its  varying  phases.  The  courtly 
school  of  Taliessin,  in  love  with  decorative  trapping, 
with  historical  retrospect,  with  ingenious  and  fantastic 
mystery ;  the  oracular  school  of  Merlin  (Merddin),  its 
nearest  kin,  but  more  habitually  prophetic  and  more 
regular  in  its  beauty ;  the  bitter  reactionary  school  of 
Cian,  properly  frowned  upon  and  passed  by ;  the  pious 
school,  which  found  voices  in  Elaeth  and  other  minor 
bards,  though  the  versatile  Taliessin  joined  them ;  the 
epic  school  of  Aneurin ;  the  ballad  school  of  Llywarch, 
an  honor  to  any  language  or  to  any  congeries  of  men. 


184     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Except  a  happy  hit  here  and  there,  the  whole  mass 
awaits  a  truly  poetic  rendering.  It  was  composed  in 
rhyme ;  we  have  it  in  strings  of  rhymeless  words  imi- 
tating (distantly)  the  Old  Testament  and  Walt  Whit- 
man. Imagine  Hohenlinden  treated  in  that  way,  or 
Scots  who  ha'e  wi'  Wallace  bled  !  Their  rhymed 
triplets  are  but  the  echo  of  Llywarch,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  a  final  line.  Yet  he  had  notes  beyond  Camp- 
bell, beyond  Burns, — a  more  poignant  pathos,  a 
stateliness  of  mournful  meditation. 

"  Bassa's  chapel  here  rests  to-night. 
Here  ends,  here  shrinks  within  himself, 
He  that  was  the  shelter  in  battle, 
Heart  of  the  men  of  Argoed. 

"  Kyndylan's  hall  is  dark  to-night, 
Without  fire,  without  light, 
Let  there  come  spreading  silence  'round  thee. 

"  Kyndylan's  hall  pierces  me  to  see  it, 
Without  roof,  without  fire. 
Dead  is  my  chief,  myself  alive. 

11  Kyndylan's  hall  is  piercing  cold  to-night 
After  the  honor  that  befell  me, 
After  the  men,  after  the  women  it  sheltered. " 

Here  we  touch  an  element  of  the  life  and  poetry  of 
that  time  which  may  not  be  passed  by.  It  has  been 
said,  by  Mr.  Pearson,  that  the  Celt  woman  was  little 
better  than  a  squaw ;  and  certainly  no  other  literature 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     185 

could  present  so  great  an  array  of  verse  with  so  few 
allusions  in  it  to  her  and  her  relations  with  man.  But 
on  closer  inquiry  one  sees  that  there  is  more  of  manly 
reticence  than  of  brute  indifference  in  this, — an  implied 
respect,  a  high  estimate  habitually  taken  for  granted. 

We  are  told  that  it  is  "usual  for  maids  to  be 
lovely."  That  "after  Adam,  well,  he  made  Eva." 
We  hear  of  "  Mary  the  Mother  of  Christ,  the  praise 
of  women." 

That  sex  is  nearly  always  represented  as  acting 
nobly : 

u  A  female  restrained  the  din, 
She  came  forth  altogether  lovely." 

It  is  tenderly  appreciated  in  all  human  relations. 

"  Fair  Ffreur,  there  are  brothers  who  cherish  thee, 
And  who  have  not  sprung  from  the  ungenerous." 

"  Were  it  the  wife  of  Gyrthmwl, 

Loud  would  be  her  scream,  she  would  be  languid  to-day ; 
She  would  deplore  the  loss  of  her  heroes." 

"  Why  should  so  much  anxiety  come  to  me? 
I  am  anxious  about  the  maid, 
The  maid  that  is  in  Arddig." 

Any  prospect  of  future  degradation  is  a  real  distress. 

"  A  period  will  come, 

How  miserable  that  it  should  come,  but  come  it  will. 
Maids  will  be  bold  and  wives  wanton." — MERLIN. 
16* 


186     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

This  tender  reverence  follows  its  object  beyond  life : 

11  The  graves  of  the  sea-marsh, 
Little  ornament  have  they. 
There  is  Sanaug,  a  stately  maiden  ; 
There  is  Kun,  ardent  in  war; 
There  is  Earwin,  the  daughter  of  Henvin ; 
There  are  Lledin  and  Llywy." 

Not  that  her  softer  aspects  are  overlooked.  Where 
can  anything  sweeter  be  found  than  this  ? 

"  Gwydion  ap  Don,  of  the  toiling  spirits, 
By  enchantments  produced  a  woman  from  blossoms/* 

Manhood  keeps  its  fealty  even  to  the  going  down  of 
the  sun.  Cries  Llywarch, — 

"  Young  maidens  love  me  not, 
I  am  visited  by  none, 
I  cannot  move  about. 
Ah,  Death  that  he  does  not  seek  me  I 

"  Wooden  crook,  is  it  not  the  spring, 
When  the  cuckoos  are  brownish,  when  the  foam  is  bright? 
I  am  destitute  of  a  maiden's  love. 

"  Surely  old  age  is  uniting  itself  with  me 
From  my  hair  to  my  teeth, 
And  my  gleaming  eye,  which  the  women  loved." 

To  this  princely  poet,  this  veritable  knight  of  King 
Arthur,  the  loss  of  love  is  evidently  the  worst  part  of 
the  loss  of  life. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     187 

Even  when  slighter  sexual  relations  are  touched 
upon,  it  is  without  levity,  indeed  with  that  contempla- 
tive melancholy  which  seems  as  natural  to  the  Cymry 
as  the  love  of  fighting,  of  carousal,  or  of  mystery. 
Says  one,  resignedly, — 

"  To  my  narrow  abode :  to  the  limits  assigned  to  my  repose, 
After  my  horse  and  indulgence  in  fresh  mead, 
And  social  feasting  and  gallantry  with  women. 
I  will  not  sleep.     I  will  meditate  on  my  end." 

Now,  these  are  almost  the  only  references  to  woman 
or  feminine  influence  in  the  Four  Ancient  Books  of 
Wales,  and  the  few  others  are  like  them.  To  catch 
their  full  significance,  we  must  not  only  remember 
their  very  early  date,  but  set  them  side  by  side  in 
thought  with  the  next  great  upgrowth  of  poetry  in 
Britain,  the  lowland  balladry  of  their  supplanters. 
A  rich  mine  truly,  and  one  which,  from  the  days 
of  Bishop  Percy  to  those  of  Mr.  Childs,  we  have 
never  been  weary  of  delving  in!  Yet  things  are 
brought  to  light  which  show  that  Britain  had  gone 
backward  in  what  makes  man  noblest.  Here  is  the 
feminine  element  in  excess,  but  hardly  in  esteem.  The 
wife  of  the  ballads  is  oftenest  a  patient  Grissel  or  a 
household  pet  in  danger  of  slaughter  on  suspicion. 
The  maid  of  the  ballads  is  oftenest  employed  in  elud- 
ing or  rewarding  the  atrocities  of  men.  It  is  quite  in 
the  order  of  things  that  a  fine  gentleman  should  assail 


188     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

a  poor  girl  on  the  highway  or  break  into  her  bower  at 
night.  If  her  wiles  get  the  better  of  him,  and  she 
slips  away  unharmed,  it  is  a  fair  combat  of  wits,  with 
the  laugh  against  the  assailant.  If  the  worst  of  evils 
befall  her,  the  minstrel  is  chiefly  concerned  to  bring 
about  a  marriage,  and  there  is  matter  of  congratula- 
tion in  it  all.  Wrongs  to  make  the  blood  boil  are  a 
part  of  the  normal  horseplay  of  life.  The  wise  woman 
will  accept  the  fact  and  address  herself  to  please  the 
offender,  that  perchance  he  may  be  willing  to  have  her 
still.  Measured  by  such  standards,  how  marvellously 
pure  and  high  is  the  ideal  of  the  Cymric  poetry. 

Again  it  has  been  said,  not  overwisely,  that  the  love 
of  nature  belongs  only  to  recent  years.  Yet  the  old 
bards  of  Britain,  the  moment  they  can  get  out  of  the 
smoke  and  din  of  battle,  are  as  alive  as  Walt  Whitman 
himself  to  the  sympathetic  joy  of  existence,  the  beauty 
abounding  everywhere.  These  breathe  through  all  the 
mysticism  of  Taliessin. 

"  The  tops  of  the  birch  covered  us  with  leaves, 
And  transformed  us  and  changed  our  faded  state ; 
The  branches  of  the  oak  have  ensnared  us. 
Not  of  mother  and  father, 
When  I  was  made, 
Did  my  Creator  create  me. 
Of  nine-formed  faculties, 
Of  the  fruit  of  fruits, 
Of  the  fruit  of  the  primordial  God, 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     189 

Of  primroses  and  blossoms  of  the  hill, 

Of  the  flowers  of  trees  and  shrubs. 

Of  earth  of  an  earthly  course 

When  I  was  formed. 

Of  the  flower  of  nettles, 

Of  the  water  of  the  ninth  wave." 

Merddyn  (or  Merlin)  begins  one  of  his  prophetic 
poems  with 

11  Sweet  apple-tree  of  delightful  branches, 
Budding  luxurious," 

and  keeps  repeating 

"  Sweet  apple-tree  which  grows  by  the  river-side, 
Sweet  apple-tree  of  delicate  bloom." 

Here  is  a  winter  picture. 

"  Let  the  snow  fall ;  white  as  mountain  land, 
Bare  the  timber  of  the  ship  at  sea. 
Cold  the  stream,  bright  the  sky. 

The  evening  is  brief,  the  tops  of  the  trees  are  bending. 
The  bees  live  on  their  store,  the  noise  of  the  birds  is  small, 
The  day  is  without  dew. 

The  hill-top  stands  out  plainly ;  red  the  dawn. 
Long  the  night,  bare  the  moor,  hoary  the  cliff, 
Gray  the  fair  gull  on  the  precipice ; 
Kough  the  seas  ;  there  will  be  rain  to-day. 
The  thrush  has  a  spotted  breast, 
Spotted  the  breast  of  the  thrush  ; 
The  edge  of  the  bank  is  broken 
By  the  hoofs  of  the  lean,  crooked,  and  stooping  hart. 
.  .  .  The  ford  is  frozen  over  ; 
Cold  the  wave,  variegated  the  bosom  of  the  sea." 


190     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES   OF  BRITAIN. 

Here,  by  another  hand,  is  the  converse : 

u  The  beginning  of  summer  is  a  most  pleasant  season ; 
Tuneful  the  birds,  green  the  stalks  of  plants ; 
Ploughs  are  in  the  furrow,  oxen  in  the  yoke  ; 
Green  is  the  sea,  variegated  the  land. 
When  cuckoos  sing  on  the  branches  of  pleasant  trees, 
May  my  joy  become  gr eater. " 

It  is  Taliessin  who  tells  us  of 

"  The  influence  of  an  order  of  men 
Exposed  to  the  breeze  of  the  sky." 

He  proclaims 

11 A  prize  in  every  unveiling. 
When  the  dew  is  undisturbed, 
And  the  wheat  is  reaped, 
And  the  bees  are  gentle, 
And  the  myrrh  and  frankincense 
And  transmarine  aloes. 
And  the  golden  pipes  of  Llew, 
And  a  curtain  of  excellent  silver, 
And  a  ruddy  gem  and  berries, 
And  the  foam  of  the  sea." 

He  it  was  who  composed  the  "Song  to  the  Great 
World"  and  the  "  Song  to  the  Wind."  We  find  also 
these  among  "  The  Pleasant  Things  of  Taliessin  :" 

"  Pleasant  berries  in  the  time  of  harvest, 
Also  pleasant  wheat  upon  the  stalk. 
Pleasant  the  sun  moving  in  the  firmament. 
Pleasant  a  steed  with  thick  mane  tangled. 
Pleasant  the  eagle  on  the  shore  of  the  flowing  sea. 
Pleasant  the  open  field  to  cuckoos  and  the  nightingale." 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

There  is  also  a  long  poem,  attributed  to  Llywarch 
Hen,  every  stanza  of  which  begins  with  "  Bright/'  a 
great  array  of  trees  and  other  plants  being  successively 
called  to  mind  with  this  adjective. 

Another,  beginning  "  Sitting  high  upon  a  hill/'  is 
richer  and  more  winning.  It  belongs  to  the  period  of 
old  age. 

. "  I  am  no  hunter,  I  keep  no  animal  of  the  chase ; 
I  cannot  move  about ; 
As  long  as  it  pleases  the  cuckoo,  let  her  sing. 

"  At  Aber  Cuaug  the  cuckoos  sing 
On  the  blossomed-covered  branches  ; 
The  loud-voiced  cuckoo,  let  her  sing  awhile. 

"  High  above  the  merry  oak 
I  have  listened  to  the  song  of  birds ; 
The  loud  cuckoo, — every  one  remembers  what  he  loyes. 

"  The  birds  are  clamorous  ;  the  beach  is  wet ; 
Let  the  leaves  fall ;  the  exile  is  unconcerned. 
I  will  not  conceal  it,  I  am  ill  this  night. 

"  Hear  the  wave  of  sullen  din  and  loud 
Amidst  the  pebbles  and  gravel. 
What  is  detested  by  man  here  is  detested  by  God  above." 

Finally  (on  this  head),  here  is  the  song  of  Taliessin 
to  his  soul : 

"  Soul,  since  I  was  made  in  (of?)  necessity  blameless, 
True  it  is,  woe  is  me  that  thou  shouldst  have  come  to  my  design, 
Neither  for  my  own  sake  nor  for  death,  nor  for  end,  nor  for 
beginning. 


192     Z!HZ7   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

"  It  was  with  seven  faculties  that  I  was  thus  blessed. 
"With  seven  created  beings  I  was  placed  for  purification. 
I  was  gleaming  fire  when  I  was  caused  to  exist, 
I  was  dust  of  the  earth  and  grief  could  not  reach  me, 
I  was  a  high  wind,  being  less  evil  than  good. 
I  was  mist  on  a  mountain  seeking  supplies  (of  the  breath  ?)  of 

stags, 

I  was  blossoms  of  trees  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
If  the  Lord  had  blessed  me  he  would  have  placed  me  on  (left 

me  in  ?)  matter. 
Soul,  since  I  was  made " 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  form,  not  less  than  in  sub- 
stance, this  old  Celtic  poet,  as  translated,  is  often 
startlingly  near  to  the  most  modern  of  the  moderns. 
There  are  indeed  passages  where  the  parallel  will  pro- 
voke a  smile.  For  example, — 

"  I  am  in  want  of  a  stick  straightened  in  song. 
I  am  a  harmonious  one ;  I  am  a  clear  singer ; 
I  am  steel ;  I  am  a  Druid  ; 
I  am  an  artificer ;  I  am  a  scientific  one ; 
I  am  a  serpent  j  I  am  love ;  I  will  indulge  in  feasting ; 
I  am  not  a  confused  bard  drivelling ; 
I  am  a  cell ;  I  am  a  cleft ;  I  am  a  restoration  ; 
I  am  the  depository  of  song  ;  I  am  a  literary  man.11 

One  part  of  the  oddity  is  that  the  translations  were 
made  before  Mr.  Whitman's  writings  became  generally 
known,  some  of  them  before  he  published  at  all.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  very  unlikely  that  they  can  have 
influenced  him.  The  resemblance  is  not  confined  to 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     193 

Taliessin.  Most  of  his  contemporaries  have  a  decidedly 
Whitmanesque  appearance  and  quality  in  their  English 
dress. 

This  may  be  partly  due  to  a  remoter  likeness  which 
he  and  they  have  in  common.  Life  was  primitive  and 
elemental  to  them,  as  to  him,  by  a  kind  of  half-wilful 
reversion.  A  great  party  clung  to  the  Roman  name, 
and  we  may  have  traces  of  Roman  magnificence  in  the 
fotes  at  Caerleon  and  the  love  of  sumptuous  garments. 
But  these  were  on  the  surface,  and  fill  but  a  little  space 
even  in  their  songs.  The  tales  which  give  them  promi- 
nence are  mostly,  if  not  altogether,  of  later  origin.  At 
heart  and  in  body  the  typical  Briton  of  that  day  was 
a  Greek  of  Homer's  time,  with  a  moustache  and  a 
tincture  of  Christianity. 

The  chief  held  revel  in  his  hall,  on  the  hill-top, 
whatever  of  Roman  ease  and  decoration  might  linger 
in  the  white  valley  city  under  his  wing.  There  the 
lights  were;  there  men  slept  and  feasted;  there  was 
the  great  gathering-din  of  merry  voices  about  the  winter 
fire-hearth.  His  first  duty  and  glory  was  to  be  an 
ample  dispenser  of  mead ;  a  princely  rewarder  of  the 
minstrel  who  sang  before  him.  If  he  could  touch  the 
harp  himself,  it  was  all  the  more  in  his  honor ;  but  a 
steady  head  over  the  flagon,  a  mighty  arm  in  the  battle, 
were  more  indispensable  qualifications. 

The  bibulous  element  in  these  lays  is  ample,  absurd, 
in  17 


194     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

and  barbaric.  Without  drinking,  there  was  no  fight- 
ing. "  From  the  banquet  of  wine  and  mead  they  went 
to  the  strife  of  mail-clad  warriors.  The  men  went  to 
Catraeth  fed  with  mead  and  drunk.  Firm  and  vigorous ; 
it  were  wrong  if  I  neglected  to  praise  them."  .  .  .  "  The 
men  went  to  Catraeth  with  the  dawn.  Mead  they 
drank,  yellow,  sweet,  ensnaring.  In  that  year  many 
a  minstrel  fell."  .  .  .  "The  men  went  to  Gododin  with 
laughter  and  sprightliness.  Bitter  were  they  in  battle." 
.  .  .  After  all,  does  not  the  heart  warm  to  that  faulty, 
reckless,  gallant  people,  so  alive  to  the  sun  and  the 
shadow,  so  indomitably  at  war  with  their  fate  ? 

The  chieftain  must  lead  in  wassail,  but  in  the  onset 
also.  The  time  had  not  yet  come  when  he  could  be 
other  than  his  own  most  redoubtable  soldier.  These 
personal  exploits  were  the  ones  which  admirers  vaunted 
and  magnified.  Arthur  himself  had  the  credit  of 
slaying  nine  hundred  of  Cerdic's  men  with  his  own 
hand  in  a  single  battle.  Of  his  foster-brother  we  are 
told,  "It  rejoiced  Cai  as  long  as  he  hewed  down!" 
When  the  great  Guledig  fell,  Lancelot  (Maelgwn),  the 
second-best  man  of  his  host,  came  forward  rapidly  to 
pre-eminence.  All  the  poetic  references  are  in  this 
vein.  The  onslaught  of  Cunedda  is  "  Like  the  roaring 
of  wind  against  the  ashen  spears."  Of  Urien, — 

"  Like  death  is  his  spear, 
Killing  his  enemy." 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     195 

Cyndylan  may  be  a  "bright  intelligence  departed/' 
but  it  was  none  the  less  imperative  that  when  he  de- 
scended to  the  battle  there  should  be  "  carnage  in  two 
swaths."  To  call  a  great  general  a  "  burner,"  a  "  wild 
boar,"  "a  bull  of  conflict,"  is  complimentary  in  the 
highest  degree. 

Partly  this  grows  out  of  the  conditions  of  warfare. 
The  fighting  is  chiefly  man  to  man  as  in  Homer's  day, 
the  same  weapons  being  used  and  the  same  defensive 
armor,  the  metal  bronze  predominating  even  yet.  The 
war-chariot  reappeared,  although  not  to  be  the  national 
means  of  assault,  as  before  the  Romans  came.  But 
there  were  battle-chargers  in  plenty.  In  the  song  of 
Llongborth,  stanza  after  stanza  is  given  up  to  a  glori- 
fication of  Geraint's  equestrian  resources,  and  it  is  more 
common  than  not  in  these  poems  to  find  an  eminent  man 
and  an  eminent  horse  extolled  together.  The  Briton, 
like  the  Greek,  fought  mightily  on  foot  when  he  must, 
but  was  not  by  choice  a  foot-soldier.  And  he  greatly 
prized  his  steed.  The  powerful  dumb  comrade,  who  bore 
not  the  rider  only,  but  the  full  weight  of  his  armor, 
who  sped  away  with  him  from  defeat  and  hurled  him 
crashing  into  victory,  could  hardly  be  extolled  too 
highly.  Its  trappings,  its  very  food,  became  not  only 
a  matter  of  daily  concern,  but  of  frank  and  childlike 
announcement.  Even  in  the  minstrel  there  was  an 
abiding  conviction  that  his  hearers  might  be  relied  on 


196     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

for  interest  in  this  rudimentary  topic.    Homer  is  at  pains 
to  tell  us  how  "  Champing  golden  grain  and  pulse,  the 
steeds  stood  by  the  chariots  waiting  for  the  dawn." 
Lly  warch  likewise  assures  us, — 

"  Under  the  thigh  of  Geraint  were  swift  racers, 
Long-legged,  with  wheat  for  their  corn, 
Kuddy  ones  with  the  assault  of  spotted  eagles." 

Only  he  has  not  had  Tennyson  for  a  translator. 
Here  is  Aneurin's  picture  of  a  gallant  young  chief- 
tain: 

"  Of  manly  disposition  was  the  youth  ; 

Yalor  had  he  in  the  tumult ; 

Fleet,  thick-maned  chargers  were  under  the  thigh  of  the  illus- 
trious youth ; 

A  shield,  light  and  broad, 

Was  on  the  slender  swift  flank  ; 

A  sword,  blue  and  bright, 

Golden  spurs  and  ermine. 

Caeawg,  the  leader,  wherever  he  came, 

Breathless  in  the  presence  of  a  maid,  would  he  distribute  the 
mead. 

The  front  of  his  shield  was  pierced.  *  "When  he  heard 

The  shout  of  battle,  he  would  give  no  quarter  wherever  he 
pursued ; 

He  would  not  retreat  from  the  combat  until  he  caused 

Blood  to  stream ;  like  rushes  would  he  hew  down  the  men  who 
would  not  yield. 

Caeawg,  the  combatant,  the  stay  of  his  country, 

Whose  attack  is  like  the  rush  of  the  eagle  into  the  sea  when 
allured  by  his  prey." 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q7 

And  of  the  army  in  motion  : 

"  The  men  went  to  Catraeth  in  battle  array  and  with  shout  of 

war, 
With  the  strength  of  steeds  and  with  dark-brown  harness  and 

with  shields, 

With  uplifted  javelins  and  sharp  lances, 
With  glittering  mail  and  with  s words.' ' 

Elsewhere  we  read  of  golden  torques,  amber  wreaths, 
white  plumes,  and  enamelled  armor.  There  are  more 
peaceful  hints  also, — the  golden  cups,  the  cups  of  glass, 
the  chief  priest's  crozier,  the  rushes  that  burned  in  the 
hall.  These  from  the  Gododin.  Add  the  witness  of 
the  other  bards,  the  authentic  triads,  the  elder  tales, 
and  we  may  get  a  fairly  just  and  vivid  conception  of 
that  sunny,  breezy,  angry  life,  its  impulsive  wildness, 
its  childlike  love  of  indulgence  and  adornment,  its 
savage  simplicity.  Perhaps  these  traits  become  ac- 
centuated as  we  get  farther  from  the  prosperous  rule 
of  Arthur. 

There  was  more  disturbance  of  formal  and  external 
worship  after  that ;  but  no  doubt  the  major  part  of  the 
country,  not  Saxon,  remained  as  a  rule  Christian  in 
observance  and  creed.  By  an  odd  freak  of  sand  and 
sea,  two  little  churches  of  the  Arthurian  time,  or  not 
much  later,  have  been  buried,  preserved,  and  uncovered 
along  the  Cornish  coast,  mute  witnesses,  but  beyond 
contradiction.  They  show  what  was  the  religious 


198     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

growth  which  sent  its  rootlets  even  to  these  remote 
and  precarious  nooks  of  man's  domain.  Some  light, 
too,  they  throw  on  the*  ecclesiastical  arrangements  of 
the  time.  But  they  can  do  no  more.  In  their  prime 
they  were  but  the  rallying-points  of  out-of-the-way 
parishes.  It  would  not  be  safe  to  infer  anything  from 
them  as  to  what  may  have  been  at  Amesbury,  or  Glas- 
tenbury,  or  the  City  of  Legions. 

Yet  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  peculiar  tenets  of 
orthodox  Christianity  had  taken  hold  of  the  more 
intimate  beliefs  and  feelings  of  men.  Death  is  death 
to  the  bards  at  any  rate,  whenever  the  best  of  them 
feel  deeply.  It  is  the  straight  and  narrow  house ;  no 
portal  opening  into  glory.  Llywarch  cries  out  against 
old  age  and  longs  for  its  ending ;  but  as  an  ending,  no 
more.  He  bewails  the  encasement  of  his  friend  within 
the  black  boards  ;  the  pity  of  it  that  the  delicate  white 
flesh  must  go  under  ground.  He  consoles  himself  for 
the  death  of  his  many  sons,  not  by  the  joys  of  Para- 
dise, but  by  the  thought  that  they  died  in  duty  and 
like  men.  His  nearest  approach  to  a  sustaining  re- 
ligious outlook  is  in  the  memorable  words, — 

11  What  is  detested  by  man  here  is  detested  by  God  above." 

Yet  any  deist  might  utter  them. 
Cian  had  the  name  of  being  distinctly  anti-Christian, 
and  the  few  verses  of  his  composition  doubtfully  sur- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     1Q9 

viving  in  Brittany  may  be  construed  to  bear  out  the 
charge. 

In  Myrddin  (Merlin)  I  find  nothing  more  definite 
than,  "  Would  that  my  end  had  come !" 

It  is  true  that  Taliessin  has  much  to  say  in  some 
places  about  theological  dogmas,  and  presents  them  in 
a  conventional  way.  But  this  is  when  he  seems  least 
sincere,  and  most  like  one  indulging  in  intellectual 
exercise.  He  was,  as  he  called  himself,- "a  literary 
man,"  a  professional  in  that  line,  beyond  what  can  be 
said  of  his  fellows.  He  wrote  of  Alexander  the 
Great  and  the  children  of  Israel.  He  chanted  "  death- 
songs"  for  Corroi  and  Uther,  who  died  before  his  day, 
if  they  ever  lived  at  all.  He  even  turned  out  a  spirited 
elegy  of  Cunedda,  which  has  been  a  puzzle  to  every- 
body, so  full  of  personal  reminiscence  is  it,  so  vast  in 
its  impudence, — if  he  really  meant  the  great  chieftain 
who  flourished  (according  to  Nennius)  generations 
before  Taliessin  was  born.  But  it  seems  to  be  ad- 
mitted that  he  did  know  and  love  the  household  of 
Urien  of  Eeged.  When  Theodric,  the  flame-bearer, 
slew  Owain,  the  bard  was  stirred  into  deep  feeling  and 
high  poetry.  Yet  there  is  but  one  reference  to  Deity, 
and  that  no  more  than  a  vague  cry  for  aid. 

"  The  soul  of  Owain,  the  son  of  Urien  ;  may  its  Lord  consider 

its  need. 
The  chief  of  Keged,  the  heavy  sward  conceals  him ; 


200     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

His  knowledge  was  not  shallow. 
A  low  cell  contains  the  renowned  protector  of  bards. 
The  wings  of  dawn  were  the  flowing  of  his  lances. 
For  there  will  not  be  found  a  match  for  the  chief  of  the  glitter* 

ing  west. 
The  reaper  of  tenacious  foes.      The  offspring  of  his  father  and 

grandfather. 
When  Flamdwyn  killed  Owain  there  was  not  one  greater  than 

he  sleeping. 
A  wide  number  of  Lloegyr  went  to  sleep  with  the  light  in  their  • 

eyes." 

When  he  considers  what  will  come  to  himself  it  is 
with  as  pagan  a  forecast : 

"  Until  I  fail  in  old  age, 
In  the  sore  necessity  of  death, 
May  I  not  be  smiling 
If  I  praise  not  Urien." 

Finally,  hear  Aneurin : 

"  I  am  not  headstrong  and  petulant. 
I  will  not  avenge  myself  on  him  who  drives  me. 
I  will  not  laugh  in  derision. 
Under  foot  for  a  while 
My  knee  is  stretched. 
My  hands  are  bound 
In  the  earthen  house 
With  an  iron  chain." 

Mr.  Skene  thinks  that  this  must  be  the  work  of  an 
interpolator  or  extender,  since  no  man  could  compose 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     201 

poetry  after  his  death.  But  one  may  treat  the  future 
as  the  present  in  grim  prevision,  and  at  any  rate  the 
paternity  of  the  lines  need  not  greatly  concern  us. 
Whoever  wrote  or  uttered  them,  they  reflect  the  feeling 
of  the  day.  Something  very  like  it  recurs  in  the  most 
painful  and  direly  veracious  part  of  Tennyson's  "  The 
Two  Voices." 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

FROM  THE  FALL  OF  ARTHUR  TO  THE  CONQUEST  OF 
THE  SEVERE. 

IT  has  been  well  said  that  the  second  great  onslaught 
of  the  Saxons  followed  very  closely  the  downfall  of 
Arthur.  At  this  time  the  Eastern  empire  was  showing 
unwonted  activity.  Its  great  generals  drove  barbarian 
back  upon  barbarian,  until  the  outer  wave  broke  over 
that  island  realm  which  one  imperial  will  had  so  long 
held  together. 

Decay,  in  spite  of  him,  was  already  at  work.  Dis- 
sension, the  vice  of  the  Celt,  had  broken  out  fatally 
near  the  throne.  His  most  redoubtable  lieutenant, 
his  very  queen,  had  proved  unfaithful.  A  trusted 
follower  and  kinsman  headed  a  rebellion  for  his 
overthrow.  Both  court  and  camp  were  filled  with 
ugly  reminders  that  his  ideals  were  flouted  and  the 
lesson  of  his  life  was  forgotten.  It  was  time  for  him 
to  pass  to  Avalon. 

An  eye-witness,  writing  about  564,  testifies  in  this 

way  :     "  But  when  these   (the  generation  of  Mount 

Badon)  had  departed  out  of  this  world,  and  a  new  race 

succeeded  who  were  ignorant  of  this  troublesome  time 

202 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     203 

and  had  only  experience  of  the  present  prosperity,  all 
the  laws  of  truth  and  justice  were  shaken  and  sub- 
verted." .  .  .  "  Britain  has  kings,  but  they  are 
tyrants;  she  has  judges,  but  unrighteous  ones;  gen- 
erally engaged  in  plunder  and  rapine,  but  always  prey- 
ing on  the  innocent ;  whenever  they  exert  themselves  to 
avenge  or  protect,  it  is  sure  to  be  in  favor  of  robbers 
and  criminals ;  they  have  abundance  of  wives,  yet  are 
they  addicted  to  fornication  and  adultery;  they  are 
ever  ready  to  take  oaths,  and  as  often  perjure  them- 
selves; they  make  a  vow  and  almost  immediately  act 
falsely;  they  make  war,  but  their  wars  are  against 
their  own  countrymen,  and  are  unjust  ones."  Allow- 
ing for  exaggeration,  we  must  recognize  here  the  pic- 
ture of  a  corrupt  society,  already  doomed.  He  admits 
the  very  few  whose  "  worthy  lives"  are  "  a  pattern  to 
all  men,"  but  says  that  even  the  church  can  scarcely 
discern  them  for  the  "great  multitude  daily  rushing 
down  to  hell." 

Yet  he  does  not  seem  to  have  understood  the  form 
that  vengeance  would  take,  nor  to  have  seen  the  on- 
ward creeping  of  the  tiger  already.  By  this  time,  in 
the  far  northeast,  Ida  had  landed  near  Bamborough, 
roused  all  the  half-enfranchised  Angle-folk  of  the 
Lothians,  and  sent  his  foraying  parties  far  into  the 
lands  of  the  West.  At  the  south  of  the  island,  Cenric, 
son  of  Cerdic,  had  essayed  the  all  but  impregnable 


204     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Sorbiodunum,  and  perhaps  defeated  a  sortie  of  its 
defenders.  Four  years  later,  accompanied  by  his  son 
Ceawlin,  he  pushed  along  the  great  road  leading  north- 
west from  Winchester,  and  fought  a  battle  at  Barbury 
Hill  on  the  western  verge  of  the  downs.  But  to  Gil- 
das  these  events  were  clearly  of  no  great  import.  In 
one  place  he  speaks  of  the  descendants  of  Ambrosius 
provoking  their  cruel  enemy  to  battle  and  gaining  the 
victory.  In  another,  he  mentions,  incidentally,  "  our 
foreign  wars  having  ceased,  but  our  civil  troubles 
remaining."  Probably  these  engagements  appeared  to 
him  as  the  mere  occasional  ebb  and  flow  of  a  disputed 
frontier ;  trivial  things  indeed  in  comparison  with  the 
dreadful  internecine  slaughter  of  Camlan  and  the  storm 
which  was  gathering  to  break  the  strength  of  the 
Cumbrian  Britons  at  Arderydd  ! 

Excepting  the  losses  in  Bernicia,  which  perhaps  had 
never  been  very  firmly  held,  the  British  line  of  defence 
remained  almost  unbroken.  The  unity  of  Britain  was 
indeed  nominally  continued,  for  Arthur  at  Glastenbury 
had  passed  the  sovereignty  to  Constantine,  as  the  old 
tale  relates ;  and  Caradoc  Yriechvras,  until  he  fell  in 
battle  at  Catraeth,  must  have  been  a  tower  of  strength 
to  his  kinsman. 

But  already  the  brilliant,  passionate  Maelgwn  was 
urging  his  own  pretentious,  which  were  established 
after  a  time  in  all  the  western  mountain  land  by  some 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     205 

vaguely-recorded  struggle  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dovey. 
Bardic  song  remembers  this  as  the  "affair  of  Cors- 
feckno."  It  figures,  with  an  odd  aspect  of  necromancy, 
even  among  the  pages  of  the  ancient  laws. 

Damnonia  remained  to  the  house  of  Ambrosius,  a 
realm  in  those  days  extending  from  the  woodlands  of 
the  Frome  as  far  as  the  western  seas.  All  of  the 
peninsula  was  included, — Somerset,  Devon,  Cornwall. 

Eastward  and  northward  of  Wales  proper,  a  trio  of 
princes, — Vortipore,  Cuneglasse,  Cynan, — maintained 
a  qualified  independence,  aiming  at  much  more.  Each 
had  his  claims.  Vortipore  was  most  likely  a  descend- 
ant of  Vortigern.  Both  ruled  in  Demetia.  Their 
names  obviously  have  the  same  first  syllable,  which  is 
that  also  of  Vortimer,  whose  sonship  is  undoubted. 
Finally  a  certain  abhorrent  and  unusual  offence  is 
charged  by  Nennius  against  Vortigern,  and  by  Gildas 
against  Vortipore.  These  coincidences  will  not  be 
easily  accounted  for  in  any  other  way. 

Cuneglasse  may  have  been,  like  Maelgwn,  of  the 
seed  of  the  great  Guledig  Cunedda.  He  evidently 
arrogated  to  himself  the  Arthurian  influence  and  in- 
signia. He  may  have  been  given  by  Arthur  some 
authority  in  the  region  between  the  Welsh  mountains 
and  the  southern  wall.  There  his  dominions  lay. 

Cynan  or  Conan  is  given  by  Gildas  the  title  "  Au- 
relius,"  and  enrolled  by  Dr.  Guest  among  the  offspring 

18 


206     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

of  Ambrose.     He  perhaps  commanded   in  one  great 
battle  after  the  death  of  Arthur. 

In  Scotland,  Llew  of  the  Lothians  had  no  longer 
a  kingdom.  Arawn  was  lost  among  the  mountain 
heathen  and  the  mountain  mystery,  which  gave  his 
realm  an  infernal  name.  Only  Urien,  "  the  splendid 
prince  of  the  North,  the  choicest  of  princes,"  held  out 
in  furious  resistance  and  retaliation.  "  The  lord  of  the 
cultivated  regions,"  he  is  called,  and  no  doubt  it  was 
even  yet  the  fight  of  civilization.  But  the  weapons 
and  the  methods — except  for  some  Roman  memories — 
were  rather  those  of  barbarian  against  barbarian.  Cries 
Urien, — 

"  Let  us  raise  our  spears  over  the  heads  of  men, 
And  rush  upon  Plamdwyn  in  his  army." 

Reged — Cumberland — was  Urien's  kingdom,  and 
with  it  Mureif,  the  region  about  Glasgow.  Against 
him  came  Ida  and  Ida's  son  Theodric,  the  flame-bearer, 
fighting  their  way  westward  and  southwestward,  until 
the  water-shed  of  the  island,  from  the  Peak  to  Selkirk 
Forest,  bore  the  sinister  name  of  the  wilderness, — a 
broad,  wasted  border-land  given  over  to  the  reciprocal 
forays  and  furies  of  the  sons  of  hate. 

The  greater  cities  of  lowland  Britain  most  likely 
prepared  as  best  they  could  for  individual  defence,  call- 
ing to  their  aid  the  subject  population  without  their 
walls.  The  lesser  towns  banded  themselves  together 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.    207 

in  provincial  groups.  Thus  Caer  Segeint  (Calleva,  Sil- 
chester)  seems  to  have  maintained  until  the  very  last  a 
Roman  military  organization  and  the  eagle  standard, 
while  Bensington  and  Lenborough,  with  two  more, 
made  the  upper  Thames  valley  and  its  northern  tribu- 
taries "the  country  of  the  Four  Towns."  All  that 
remained  of  civilized  Britain  was  actively  fortifying 
and  actively  seeking  alliance. 

One  expedient  of  this  time  was  probably  the  oddest 
ever  adopted  for  collecting  an  army  and  keeping  it 
together.  Perhaps  the  origin  was  in  the  public  shows 
and  entertainments,  modified  from  those  of  Rome  by 
Ambrose  and  Arthur.  Experience  showed  that  a  great 
feast  and  drinking  bout  would  draw  the  fighting  Celt 
from  afar,  and  hold  him  while  it  lasted.  If  trials  of 
skill  were  added,  and  rough  tilting,  so  much  the  better. 
From  this,  there  was  an  easy  transition  to  a  furious 
inroad  over  the  border  of  the  nearest  enemy.  The 
British  leaders  took  the  lesson  to  heart.  Whenever 
there  was  a  weak  point  to  be  made  strong,  or  a  Saxon 
frontier  to  be  overrun,  invitations  went  out  abundantly 
to  a  great  Christian  merry-making.  The  bards  grew 
eloquent  in  praise  of  the  ruinous  foibles  that  answered 
so  well  the  purpose  of  the  hour.  But  the  Saxons 
awoke  also  to  the  under-meaning  of  this  Celtic  jollity, 
and  their  dogged  infantry  came  likewise  to  the  feast. 

At  the  eastern   end  of  the  northern   wall  in  the 


208     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Manau  Gododin  of  the'  great  Cunedda,  a  notable  for- 
tress town,  probably  with  a  Roman  basilica,  looked  out 
over  the  sea.  Whatever  its  past  vicissitudes,  the 
Britons  held  it  now,  with  the  Picts  to  the  northward 
and  the  Saxons  to  the  southward,  confederate  and  hos- 
tile. It  was  a  desperate  place  for  the  gathering  of  an 
army,  and  some  unusually  audacious  enterprise  must 
have  been  on  foot.  The  flower  of  the  land  were  drawn 
from  its  remoter  regions,  a  few,  including  the  son  of 
Cian  Gwenclan,  being  actually  cut  off  on  the  way.  A 
strong  force  gathered,  and  fell  to  at  the  good  things 
provided,  only  laughing  the  more  when  they  found 
that  a  vastly  greater  host  had  invested  them.  From 
time  to  time  they  intermitted  their  orgies  to  issue  in 
detached  parties  and  fight,  for  pure  love  of  fighting, 
upon  the  battle-strand,  Cat-traeth.  But  soon  they  had 
quite  enough  to  do  in  defending  the  outer  wall.  This 
was  taken  and  retaken.  Again  there  were  frantic 
sorties,  but  they  could  not  break  the  deadly  grip  of 
the  Saxon.  It  closed  more  and  more  tightly  after 
every  spasm.  The  Britons  were  too  few  to  endure 
their  heavy  losses.  The  enemy  came  swarming  over 
among  them.  Desperate  fighting  went  on  from  street 
to  street.  Finally  the  basilica  was  stormed,  the  com- 
batants wading  in  blood  as  they  fought  on.  The  gar- 
rison was  all  but  obliterated,  a  bare  handful  cutting 
their  way  to  life  and  liberty. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     209 

Something  like  this  may  be  disentangled  from 
the  confused  repetitions  and  eulogiums  of  Aneurin. 
Whether  his  poem,  or  collection  of  poems,  should  be 
read  as  describing  one  battle  or  two  battles,  we  need 
not  consider.  Mr.  Skene  supports  the  latter  view. 
But  in  part,  at  least,  it  relates  the  great  slaughter  of 
Catraeth, — probably  between  550  and  560, — wherein, 
with  many  a  soldier,  "  many  a  minstrel  fell."  There 
also — heaviest  loss  of  all — fell  Caradoc  Vriecvras,  the 
great  "  battle-knight"  of  Arthur. 

We  may  suppose  this  to  have  preceded  the  battle  of 
Barberry  Hill,  if  not  the  attack  on  old  Saruin.  It  was 
but  natural  that  vehement  aggression 'both  at  the  south 
and  at  the  north  should  follow.  Not  in  Wessex  and 
Bernicia  only,  but  all  along  the  line  of  the  Saxon 
shore,  the  hostile  intruders  felt  that  their  grand  oppor- 
tunity had  come.  Through  the  uneven  woodlands  north 
of  London  they  broke  to  the  sacking  of  Verulam,  over- 
threw its  marble  columns,  destroyed  the  tombs  of  its 
martyrs,  and  laid  it  utterly  waste.  They  followed  their 
old  road  to  Caer  Lerion,  and  that  city  passed  away. 
They  swarmed  from  the  fenlands  over  the  cities  of 
Cambridgeshire,  and  so  far  obliterated  them  that  even 
relics  of  their  former  life  and  beauty  were  rare  when 
the  Norman  came.  They  drove  the  eagle  of  Caer 
Segeint  to  shelter  within  its  walls;  set  the  houses 
ablaze  (according  to  the  old  story)  by  the  flight  of  fire- 
o  18* 


210     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

laden  birds ;  took  the  town  by  sudden  onfall  and  mas- 
sacre, and  left  the  ruins  empty  of  human  occupants. 
They  starved  out  the  impregnable  fortress  of  Old 
Sarum,  and  drove  the  monks  of  Amesbury  westward 
to  a  younger  choir.  They  gathered  about  the  circuit 
of  London's  defences,  wrangling  with  each  other  for 
the  prize,  until  Ethelbert  of  Kent,  though  defeated  by 
the  forces  of  Wessex,  found  means  to  establish  an  East 
Saxon  king  in  the  conquered  city.  Whether  or  no  in 
this  instance  a  period  of  destruction  and  desolation 
intervened  is  matter  of  dispute.  Probably  the  com- 
pany of  foreign  merchants  found  favor  with  the  com- 
paratively enlightened  Kent-folk,  and  were  permitted 
to  keep  alive  a  nucleus  of  London,  if  nothing  more. 
In  604  it  was  the  East  Saxon  capital,  whence  King 
Saebert  ruled  also  over  Hertfordshire  and  Middlesex. 

For  the  dates  of  these  events  we  have  generally 
nothing  very  definite.  Old  Sarum  was  apparently  in 
British  hands  in  552.  Verulam  had  been  taken  and 
destroyed  before  Gildas  wrote,  and  probably  as  early 
as  550.  London  may  have  held  out  until  568,  when 
Ethelbert  was  defeated  at  Wimbledon  in  Surrey,  but  is 
more  likely  to  have  surrendered  earlier,  as  he  moved 
up  the  Thames.  The  remainder  of  lowland  Britain 
fell  rapidly.  In  571,  Cuthulf,  a  brother  of  Cenric  and 
Cutha,  led  an  expedition  into  the  territory  of  the  Four 
Towns,  between  the  Chiltern  Hills  and  the  Cotswolds, 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     211 

a  bit  of  domain  marked  off  naturally,  as  Mr.  Guest 
has  observed,  from  all  the  rest  of  Britain.  Only  one 
battle  is  recorded  in  this  campaign,  probably  the  final 
overthrow  of  a  retreating  enemy,  for  the  place  (Bedford) 
is  more  northerly  than  any  of  these  cities.  They  all 
surrendered,  or  were  taken,  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
and  the  conquest  of  the  Thames  Valley  was  ended. 

In  the  north  a  more  vigorous  war  was  maintained 
by  the  Celtic  woodlanders  and  the  soldier-race  about 
the  wall.  Llywarch  and  his  sons,  the  most  eminent 
of  Arthur's  men  yet  alive,  were  the  spirit  and  strong 
arm  of  this  resistance.  Taliessin  and  Aneurin,  with 
other  bards,  kept  life  and  fire  in  their  followers  by  their 
ringing  martial  lays.  Urien  fell,  and  his  severed  head 
was  borne  away  by  a  comrade,  at  the  saddle-bow,  that 
it  might  not  be  left  in  the  hands  of  a  despiteful  enemy. 
In  a  strong  poem  of  this  ghastly  ride  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  the  bearer  celebrates  the  virtues  of  his 
dead  friend  and  kinsman,  yet  cries  out,  on  the  pity  of 
his  fate, — 

"  A  head  I  bear, 

The  head  of  Urien,  who  governed  a  court  in  mildness, 
And  on  his  white  bosom  the  sable  raven  gluts. " 

And  again, — 

"  The  delicate  white  corpse  will  be  covered  to-night 
Amid  earth  and  green  sods : 
Woe  my  hand  that  the  son  of  Cynvarch  is  slain." 


212     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

But  he  left  in  Owain  a  successor  as  formidable ;  and 
when  Theodric,  the  flame-bearer,  slew  the  young  chief, 
Rhydderch,  an  ally  of  Urien,  took  up  the  conflict. 
But  now  the  pagan  party  at  the  north  was  gathering 
head  for  revolt,  under  a  chieftain  named  Gwendolew. 
Perhaps  the  rebels  were  in  the  Saxon  interest,  perhaps 
merely  instigated  by  the  neighborhood  and  example  of 
a  warlike  anti-Christian  people.  At  any  rate,  the 
movement  grew  to  such  proportions  that  Rhydderch 
was  obliged  to  call  in  the  aid  of  Maelgwn  and  the 
Scottish  King  Aidan  of  Dalraida.  These  three  awaited 
their  enemy  by  the  cliffs  of  the  Lyddel,  in  the  Pass 
of  Arderydd,  leading  northeast  from  Carlisle  and  the 
great  wall.  The  result  was  a  decisive  pagan  over- 
throw and  the  establishment  under  Ehydderch  of  the 
strong  kingdom  of  Strathclyde,  which  drew  under  it 
all  Cymric  and  other  Celtic  fragments  that  would  have 
Alcluyd  (Dumbarton)  for  a  capital.  This  little  state 
lived  on  for  centuries,  and  at  one  time  threatened  to 
reverse  the  destiny  of  Britain. 

But  the  loss  of  life  in  civil  war  was  a  deplorable 
concomitant  of  this  victory.  Another  was  the  greater 
severance  of  the  northern  Britons  from  what  had  now 
become  the  great  Welsh  kingdom  of  Arthur's  half- 
recreant  Lancelot.  In  a  movement  of  wayward  gener- 
osity Maelgwn  might  have  rendered  aid  again.  But 
the  Saxon  did  not  immediately  threaten  his  mountain 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.    213 

strongholds,  and  he  would  hardly  bestir  himself  with- 
out special  appeal.  It  is  less  easy  to  understand  his 
neglect  of  the  intermediate  Cymry,  the  Cumbrians 
proper,  who  held  by  precarious  tenure,  and  finally  not 
at  all,  the  march  of  Deira.  Somewhere  in  this  quarter 
lay  Llywarch's  own  little  kingdom  of  Argoed,  and  his 
remaining  sons  were  fighting  for  it  desperately.  Was 
there  an  old  enmity  behind  this  inaction, — the  enmity 
of  one  who  had  wronged  Arthur  against  Arthur's  faith- 
ful counsellor? 

The  character  of  this  Welsh  monarch,  Maelgwn,  first 
identified  with  Lancelot  by  De  Villemarch,  is  perhaps 
the  most  intensely  dramatic  of  his  time.  What  he  was 
in  later  romance  we  know  best  of  all  by  Tennyson's 
presentation, — a  very  human  figure,  dashed  with  guilt 
and  magnanimity,  full  of  "warmth  of  color/'  daring 
all  things,  yet  weak  before  the  allurement  of  sin.  How 
he  appeared  to  an  embittered  moralist  of  his  own  time, 
let  Gildas  inform  us. 

"  And  likewise,  O  thou  dragon  of  the  island,  who 
hast  deprived  many  tyrants  as  well  of  their  kingdoms 
as  of  their  lives,  and,  though  the  last  mentioned  in  my 
writing,  the  first  in  mischief,  exceeding  many  in  power 
and  also  in  malice,  more  liberal  than  others  in  giving, 
more  licentious  in  sinning,  strong  in  arms  but  stronger 
in  working  thine  own  soul's  destruction,  Maglocune, 
why  art  thou  foolishly  rolling  in  that  black  pool  of 


214     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

thine  offences?  Why  dost  thou  wilfully  heap  like  a 
mountain  upon  thy  kingly  shoulders  such  a  black  load 
of  sins?  .  .  .  What  holy  man  is  there  who,  moved 
with  the  narration  of  such  a  history,  would  not  pres- 
ently break  out  into  weeping  and  lamentations  ?" 

Of  Llywarch  we  get  a  very  different  picture.  He 
muses  thus : 

"  I  was  formerly  fair  of  limb, 
I  was  eloquent  in  speech. 
The  men  of  Argoed  have  ever  supported  me. 

"  What  I  loved  when  a  youth  are  hateful  to  me  now, 
A  stranger's  daughter  and  a  gray  steed. 
Am  I  not  for  them  unmeet  ? 

"  Sharp  is  my  spear,  furious  in  the  onset. 
I  will  prepare  to  watch  the  ford. 
Support  against  falling  may  God  grant  me. 

"  Four-and-twenty  sons  have  been  to  me, 
Wearing  the  golden  chain,  leaders  of  armies. 
Gwen  was  the  best  of  them. 

"  For  the  terror  of  death  from  the  base  men  of  Lloegyr 
I  will  not  tarnish  my  honor." 

It  is  impossible  to  think  of  Llywarch  but  as  a  hero, 
— impulsive,  life-loving,  franker  than  any  child,  but 
strong  of  will,  sound  in  faith,  warm  and  true  of  heart, 
— in  the  simplicity  of  his  nobility  the  best  living  repre- 
sentative of  the  illustrious  dead. 

But  his  striving  ended  after  all  in  the  loss  of  Ar- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     215 

goed.  The  steps  are  not  traceable,  for  the  poet  is  more 
absorbed  in  his  bereavement  and  personal  experiences 
than  in  the  needs  of  later  history.  We  get  the  general 
impression  of  a  series  of  engagements, — the  names  of 
some  are  given, — but  with  nothing  at  all  of  their  rela- 
tion to  each  other  in  time,  place,  or  event.  They  prob- 
ably occurred  in  the  decade  between  560  and  570. 
The  final  outcome  forced  him  to  take  refuge  with  Cyn- 
dylan  of  Shrewsbury,  his  kinsman,  a  feudatory  of 
Brochwel  of  Powys  and  ruler  over  the  region  about 
the  Wrekin,  the  upper  valley  of  the  Severn.  Many 
of  his  family  had  been  slain.  The  remainder  went 
with  him. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   OVEETHEOW  OF  THE  WEST. 

WHATEVEE  remained  of  Roman  and  Arthurian 
Britain  was  now  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Severn,  the  Eden,  the  Exe,  and  the  Dee.  The 
first,  with  its  tributaries,  drained  by  far  the  largest  area, 
and  reflected  more  and  wealthier  cities  than  all  the 
others  together.  The  forced  upgrowth  of  these  towns 
must  before  this  have  come  to  an  end,  partly  by  reason 
of  frequent  menace  and  the  visible  shadow  of  fate, 
but  even  more  because  one-half  of  Britain  had  melted 
utterly  away. 

On  Glevum  and  Aquse  Solis  the  news  of  the  battle 
of  Bedford  must  have  fallen  as  a  more  than  ominous 
blow.  Doubtless  they  opened  their  gates  and  their 
hearts,  but  their  eyes  were  opened  also.  Just  over  the 
eastward  hills  had  been  a  little  Celtic  world  of  cus- 
tomers and  neighbors.  Now  that  world  had  been 
obliterated  as  in  the  passing  of  a  dream.  They  must 
prepare,  with  straitened  resources,  for  the  assault  of 
their  unmerciful  enemy.  With  them  stood  and  fell 
Corineum,  the  one  fastness  yet  remaining  in  British 
hands  over  the  Cotswold  Ridge. 
216 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     217 

Nowhere  in  the  island  was  there  a  stronger*  place ; 
yet,  jutting  out  as  it  did  from  the  main  line,  its  position 
was  highly  perilous.  Its  riches,  altogether  exceptional, 
were  flaunted  in  the  very  faces  of  too  many  hungry 
marauders.  Cuthulf  crouched  with  longing  eyes  on 
the  northeast,  beside  his  new  acquisition  of  Eynsham. 
Ceawlin  and  Cuthwin  hounded  on  their  forces  from 
the  edge  of  the  Marlborough  downs.  It  must  have 
been  mightily  garrisoned,  for,  after  all,  the  storm  of 
war  swept  by  or  swept  around,  breaking  far  in  the 
rear,  within  view  of  Mount  Badon. 

The  tale  of  this  conquest  has  been  well  told  by  Dr. 
Guest  and  after  him  by  Mr.  Green ;  yet  their  route  to 
Deorham  is  purely  one  of  conjecture.  Is  it  not  on  the 
whole  more  likely  that  the  Saxons,  finding  Corineum 
too  hard  for  them,  withdrew  from  the  direct  attack 
and  yet  once  again  took  to  the  sea?  What  more 
natural,  too,  than  that  they  should  aim  immediately  at 
the  scene  of  their  greatest  overthrow  !  A  victory  there 
would  be  victory  indeed. 

Perhaps  a  time  was  chosen  when  the  Britons  of  the 
south  were  depleted  by  the  northern  wars.  They 
must  have  had  a  contingent  at  Arderydd.  It  may  not 
yet  have  returned.  Or  some  unusual  accession  of 
strength  may  have  determined  the  West  Saxon  move- 
ment of  A.D.  577. 

We  do  not  know  the  commander  of  the  Britons. 
K  19* 


218     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

There  may  have  been  a  fraternity  of  leaders  no  less 
than  of  cities.  "  Three  kings"  were  slain ;  but  only 
one  name  of  these  (Conmael,  Peak-Mael)  can  tell  us 
anything.  It  sounds  like  another  variation  of  Maelwas 
and  Maelgwn.  Surely,  too,  there  was  the  place  for  the 
monarch  of  Gwynedd  and  overlord  of  all  Wales  to 
fight  his  last  fight.  There,  within  view  of  Mount 
Badon,  might  Arthur's  unfaithful  lieutenant  redeem 
his  honor,  so  far  as  it  lay  within  redemption,  by  re- 
peating the  great  exploit  of  his  dead  leader.  Bat  this 
hope,  if  he  held  it,  was  vain.  The  day  went  ruinously 
against  him.  "  In  the  lost  battle  borne  down  by  the 
flying"  we  find  the  fitting  end  of  Lancelot. 

Deorham  has  been  treated  as  a  critical  point  in  the 
long  struggle,  since  the  defeat  cut  off  Damnonia  from 
the  body  of  Britain.  Yet  there  can  have  been  little 
co-operation  even  before.  Cons  tan  tine  probably  re- 
garded the  Welsh  princes  in  the  light  of  usurping 
pretenders.  Communication  by  water  was  uninter- 
rupted, and  easier  than  by  land.  But  when  the  Four 
Towns  were  allowed  to  fight  their  enemy  unaided; 
when  -  the  heroes  of  Argoed,  for  lack  of  men,  were 
driven  foot  by  foot  from  every  abiding-place;  when 
all  Lloegria,  taken  piecemeal,  had  become  the  prey  of 
the  Saxon,  it  is  plain  that  anything  like  a  national 
resistance  was  at  an  end  already. 

Still  the  overthrow  at  Deorham  was  a  great  calamity. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     219 

Every  form  of  disaster  followed  in  its  train.  The 
country  that  it  threw  open  to  ravage  was  unexcelled 
in  Britain.  All  along  the  road  to  Corineum,  all  up 
and  down  the  Avon  valley  and  the  Severn,  the  Roman 
villas,  with  their  life  of  luxury,  lay  thickly  sown. 
Celtic  supremacy,  however  long  continued,  can  hardly 
have  put  away  so  much  that  made  the  convenience  and 
brightness  of  living.  The  population  was  dense  and 
thriving  even  yet,  and  the  face  of  the  country  all  in 
bloom.  The  blow  fell,  and  the  blossoming-time  was 
ended.  The  circle  of  hostility  spread  outward  on 
every  side,  until  it  broke  against  the  bases  of  the  Welsh 
mountains  beyond  the  Wye,  stirred  the  forest-leaves 
of  Dean  and  Arden,  drove  the  miners  of  Mendip 
from  their  toil,  and  was  lost  amid  the  marshes  of 
Glastenbury.  All  the  open  laud  was  the  worse  for 
that  fiery  flooding. 

The  doom  of  Bath  came  more  quickly.  Fighting 
but  nine  miles  away  and  racing  confusedly  thither,  it 
is  no  wonder  if  the  fugitive  and  the  slayer  brought 
panic  and  havoc  together  into  every  home.  Through 
the  gate  and  over  the  wall  came  the  torrent  of  Saxon 
lances.  The  fury  of  the  onset  made  destruction  instant 
and  complete.  The  bright  Temple  of  the  Sun,  with  all 
the  luxurious  beauty  that  had  grown  up  about  it,  was 
thereafter  no  more.  Nothing  remained  but  the  lone- 
someness  of  desolation,  stirring  into  mournful  pity  even 


220     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

the  minstrelsy  of   the   victor.     "  The  Kuin"  of  the 
Codex  Exoniensis  has  for  its  topic  this  unhappy  city. 


There  the  baths  were 
Hot  on  the  breast. 


"  Bright  were  the  burgh  dwellings, 
Many  its  princely  halls, 
High  its  steepled  splendor ; 
Many  a  mead-hall 
Full  of  human  joys ; 
They  perished  in  wide  slaughter. 
Death  destroyed  all 
Their  renowned  warriors. 
Therefore  these  courts  are  dreary. 

*'•*'''*  !'        '  *  •'# 

"  There  many  a  chief  of  old, 
Joyous  and  gold-bright, 
Proud  and  with  wine  elate, 
In  warlike  decoration  shone. 


11  Perishes  the  work  of  giants ; 
The  roofs  are  fallen, 
The  towers  tottering, 
The  hoar  gate-towers  despoiled  ; 
Shattered  the  battlements, 
Kiven,  fallen.'7 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Dr.  Freeman  declares,  "Aquae 
Solis,  Glevum,  and  Corineum  fell  like  Jericho  and  Ai." 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     221 

But  we  really  have  no  proof,  except  as  to  the  former. 
Winchester  and  Canterbury,  York  and  London,  were 
probably  granted  mercy.  Rutupiae  held  even  its 
Roman  name  so  late  as  the  time  of  Bede,  for  he  men- 
tions it  with  little  change.  We  need  not  assume 
that  more  than  one  of  the  three  cities  near  the  lower 
Severn  was  visited  with  fire  and  sword.  Admittedly 
the  period  of  desolation  for  Cirencester  and  Gloucester 
must  have  been  "short  indeed."  Perhaps  it  never 
existed  at  all. 

Mr.  Green  admits  that  the  country  people  may  not 
have  been  driven  from  the  soil  which  Ceawlin  won. 
In  a  very  few  years  we  find  Britons  aiding  a  revolt 
against  him.  No  doubt  the  villas  and  villages  had 
been  roughly  raided,  or  even  torn  to  pieces  and  set  on 
fire ;  but  while  the  inhabitants  kept  their  limbs  they 
could  flee,  and  the  woods  and  rough  uplands  were 
always  a  shelter. 

In  these  shadowy  labyrinths  the  odds  were  with 
the  men  who  could  lie  in  wait  and  who  knew  the 
ground.  The  Saxons  came  to  have  a  horror  of  them, 
and  would  rarely  venture  where  so  much  was  to  be 
lost  and  so  very  little  won.  Thus  they  never  yet  had 
penetrated  the  great  forest  of  And  red ;  they  gave  the 
lesser  Frome  woods  for  a  hundred  years  the  name  (and 
avoidance)  of  an  unexplored  sea,  and  their  frightful 
disaster  in  the  forest  of  Celyddon  taught  them  to 


222     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

respect  the  independence  of  the  free  Britons  of  Elrnet. 
The  same  held  true  of  every  ridge  and  fen  and  stretch 
of  rough  waste  country  throughout  Britain.  The 
Saxon  conquest  was  until  then  of  the  lowlands  and 
open  lands  only.  Nor  did  it  ever  afterwards  go  the 
length  of  wholly  dispossessing  the  Celtic  woodlanders. 
Mr.  Green  elaborately  puts  before  us  the  effect  of  such 
tracts  in  checking  or  deflecting  the  various  currents  of 
invasion.  But  he  hardly  seems  to  be  aware  that  the 
real  obstacle  was  always  the  forest  with  its  garrison. 
It  is  probable  that  such  places  never  had  been  and 
never  again  will  be  so  densely  populated  as  they  were 
then. 

But  such  Celtic  fragments,  even  when  actively  hostile, 
could  not  greatly  impede  an  invader  who  kept  the  way 
of  the  valley.  Ceawlin  devoted  several  years  to 
making  sure  of  the  country  behind  him,  then  pushed 
on  up  the  Severn,  through  the  forest  of  Wyre,  to 
another  tempting  prey. 

Here  was  the  domain  of  Cyndylan  with  whom 
Llywarch  had  taken  shelter.  Pengwyrn,  now  Shrews- 
bury, was  his  capital ;  but  this  and  the  other  Celtic 
towns  along  the  water-side  or  up  among  the  hills  were 
but  of  slight  account  in  comparison  with  the  one  great 
prize  of  his  dominion,  the  stately  Roman  city  of  Uri- 
conium.  It  lay  in  a  little  cluster  of  native  satellites, 
"between  Tren  and  Traval,  between  Tren  and 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     223 

Tradwyd,"  the  Wrekin,  with  a  "  bright  fort"  for  coro- 
nal, towering  above  them  all  to  give  it  name. 

Its  wealth  and  size  have  been  matters  of  astonish- 
ment, for  it  was  very  near  the  mountain  border.  But 
a  great  mining  country  lay  nearer  still,  and  it  made  a 
necessary  station  in  all  transit  between  the  Vale  Royal 
and  the  Severn  Sea.  In  some  particulars  it  surpassed 
every  other  city  of  Britain.  The  streets  have  a  modern 
width,  instead  of  being  the  mere  lanes  with  which  the 
Komans  and  their  successors  were  generally  content. 
Traces  of  culture  are  found,  making  its  life  oddly  real 
and  familiar :  a  Latin  inscription  in  one  place,  in 
another  a  surgeon's  box  with  a  scalpel  as  bright  and 
keen  as  if  new.  It  long  lay  open,  like  the  cities  we 
know,  to  every  comer;  but  when  walled,  in  later 
times  of  danger,  the  circuit  was  even  greater  than 
that  of  London.  Its  public  buildings,  its  places  of 
entertainment,  were  generous  and  costly.  The  pre- 
dominance of  marble  in  its  architecture  had  given  it 
the  name  of  "  The  White  City."  Its  roofs  were  of 
thin  stone,  besprinkled  with  mica,  which  must  have 
gleamed  afar  like  silver  in  the  moonlight,  or  shone  like 
flecks  of  gold  in  the  rising  sun. 

We  do  not  know  of  any  resistance  to  the  march 
through  the  woodlands.  It  may  have  been  a  surprise, 
for  "  a  horseman  from  a  Caer  below"  is  reproached 
with  tardiness  in  his  warning.  When  we  discover  the 


224     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

defenders,  they  are  partly  gathered  about  the  city  walls, 
partly  in  the  almost  impregnable  fortress  on  the  height 
of  Dinnle  Wrecon. 

The  latter  was  the  head-quarters  of  Cyndylan,  while 
Lly warch  took  post  in  Uriconium  and  its  native  suburb, 
Tren.  Dr.  Guest  makes  these  identical,  but  the  men- 
tion of  them  in  the  Marwand  Cyndylan  evidently 
points  to  some  distinction.  Probably  they  were,  yet 
were  not,  the  same,  as  in  the  case  of  every  half-absorbed 
outgrowth.  Tren  may  have  lain  partly  within  and 
partly  without  the  walls  on  the  down-river  side. 

Here  the  strain  of  the  combat  would  come,  and  here 
we  find  Lly  warch  frantically  calling  for  aid.  Years 
had  not  taught  him  patience  under  fire  nor  Fabian 
generalship.  "  Cyndylan,  a  cause  of  grief  thou  art,"  he 
cries  aloud.  "  Set  forward  will  not  be  the  array," — 
"  shall  a  man  be  no  better  than  a  maid  ?"  He  taunts 
him  with  his  moustache  also.  And  Cyndylan,  who 
has  been  quite  right  in  clinging  at  every  sacrifice  to  his 
best  chance  of  victory,  begins  at  once,  in  true  Celtic 
fashion,  a  rush  downward  to  the  vale,  at  this  imputa- 
tion on  his  manhood. 

Lly  warch  sees  his  error  when  too  late,  and  beseeches 
him  to  "hold  the  slope,"  to  "hold  the  top  until  the 
Lloegrians  come  through  Tren."  Wisely  enough  he 
adds,  when  wisdom  can  no  longer  avail,  "  It  is  not 
called  a  wood  for  one  tree." 


THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     225 

But  now  Cyndylan,  "  obstinate  in  the  host/'  will  by 
no  means  be  persuaded.  "  With  heart  of  greyhound 
he  descended  to  the  turmoil  of  battle.  .  .  .  With 
heart  of  wild  boar  he  descended/'  Then  straightway 
arose  "in  the  meadow  the  clatter  of  shields."  The 
"  carnage  in  two  swaths"  became  dreadful.  But  it  was 
a  lost  battle  to  the  Briton.  He  was  beaten  from  the 
low  ground,  from  the  houses,  from  the  slope,  from  the 
very  crest.  "  I  marvel  that  the  bright  fort  is  no  more." 
Both  Tren  and  "the  white  town"  were  given  over 
utterly  to  the  fire  and  steel.  The  dead  Cyndylan  was 
borne  away  to  Bassa's  Chapel,  far  up  the  valley.  The 
wave  of  devastation  rolled  after  him,  until  his  castle 
on  Carrec  Hytwyth  lay  a  ruin,  and  "  Llys  Pengwern, 
is  it  not  in  flames  ?" 

The  tale  is  told  poetically,  but  there  is  corroboration 
of  its  truth.  The  relics  brought  to  light  of  recent 
years  repeat  it  in  their  own  way.  The  capture  was 
instant,  violent,  and  merciless.  Eepairs  of  the  forum 
wall  were  interrupted  suddenly.  The  bones  of  women 
and  children  have  been  found  still  blackening,  where 
they  were  cut  down  in  the  streets.  The  skulls  are 
mainly  Celtic  of  the  Ivernian  mixture,  as  might  be 
expected  of  the  inhabitants  along  that  frontier.  Evi- 
dently the  Saxons  had  the  game  of  slaughter  in  their 
own  hands. 

Yet  there  must  have  been  a  multitude  who  escaped, 
P 


226     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

as  Llywarch  did.  The  strong  city  of  Deva,  or  Caer 
Ligion,  away  to  the  northward,  would  be  their  first 
refuge,  their  point  of  rallying. 

Here  Brochwel,  Prince  of  Powys,  however  appalled 
by  the  rapid  succession  of  disaster,  gathered  men  with 
all  speed  from  the  fragment  that  remained  of  his 
realm.  As  the  enemy  drew  nearer,  he  marched  forth 
and  met  them  in  a  pass  of  the  hills,  where  rise  the 
head-waters  of  the  great  stream  which  they  had  fol- 
lowed so  long.  The  encounter  must  have  been  fierce 
to  desperation,  for  the  Briton,  if  beaten  here,  could 
scarce  hope  to  make  another  stand.  The  fury  of  the 
defenders  prevailed  at  last.  Cutha  fell.  Ceawlin  with 
his  discomfited  army  went  backward  in  bitter  chagrin, 
taking  vengeance  all  the  way. 

The  spoil  which  they  bore  with  them  was  the  chief 
good  they  had  of  this  inroad.  As  far  as  the  forest  of 
Wyre  the  land  was  retaken.  No  living  Briton  except 
the  very  few  survivors  of  Mount  Badon  could  remem- 
ber so  signal  a  triumph.  He  chanted  in  his  elation 
of  this  "  battle  against  the  lord  of  fame  in  the  dales 
of  the  Severn ;  against  Brochwel  of  Powys,  who  loved 
my  song."  But  the  shining  city  of  the  Wrekin  was 
gone  forever. 

,  This  battle  of  Faddiley  was  the  beginning  of  a 
spirited  rally  by  the  Britons.  It  was  also  the  turning- 
point  of  the  fortunes  of  Ceawlin.  Victory  there 


TTNIVEBSI 
THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF 


would  have  given  him  Chester  and  the  Vale  Royal, 
would  have  opened  up  the  whole  northern  country  as 
far  as  Carlisle,  would  have  raised  him  above  all  other 
English  monarchs  by  the  head.  But  with  defeat  his 
hold  upon  even  his  own  people  grew  weaker.  A  great 
body  of  the  men  of  the  lower  Severn,  Briton  and 
Saxon  together,  revolted  under  his  nephew  Ceolric. 
Probably  some  of  BrochwePs  men  came  through  the 
upper  woodlands  to  join  them.  Ceawlin  retired  from 
the  gathering  storm  towards  the  older  part  of  his  king- 
dom, but  finally  turned  at  bay  near  the  vale  of  the 
White  Horse. 

The  position  was  a  strong  one,  crowning  the  same 
"  downs"  on  which  he  had  fought  and  won  before  at 
Barberry  Hill,  a  memory  of  good  omen.  It  was 
strategically  important,  also,  for  here  the  road  from 
Surrey,  a  region  which  his  other  great  victory  of  Wim- 
bledon had  gained  for  him,  crossed  the  ancient  Ickneild 
way  that  led  to  the  more  northern  conquests  of  his 
brother  in  the  Thames  valley.  A  third  Roman  road 
established  communication  with  Winchester  and  the 
first  acquisitions  of  his  grandfather  Cerdic.  Every  line 
was  open  which  might  admit  West  Saxon  reinforce- 
ments or  be  followed  by  the  king  of  Wessex  in  retreat. 

The  former  did  not  come  in  sufficient  volume,  or  the 
mixed  hostile  multitude  of  the  West  were  too  sudden 
and  strong  in  their  fury.  We  know  little  of  the  fight, 


228     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

! 

except  that  the  slaughter  was  extreme  on  both  sides, 
and  that  the  overthrow  of  Ceawlin  was  beyond  all 
retrieving.  He  made  no  further  effort,  but  fled  at  once 
from  the  kingdom,  and  died,  an  exile,  within  the  year. 

This  was  the  battle  of  Wauborough,  A.D.  592.  It 
must  have  distinctly  modified  the  relations  of  the 
two  peoples,  for  Ceolric  would  hardly  wish  or  dare  to 
treat  arrogantly  the  men  who  had  given  him  his  crown. 
Thereafter  Wessex,  the  land  of  Alfred  and  of  Arthur, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  equally  British  and  Saxon. 

Meanwhile,  the  rest  of  the  island  was  not  in  a  slum- 
ber. Aedan,  one  of  the  three  kings  who  conquered  at 
Arderydd,  was  to  the  Cymry  of  the  northwest  what 
"  the  lord  of  fame"  may  have  been  to  Ceolric.  Before 
his  time  the  enmity  between  the  Gael  of  Dalraida  and 
the  true  Briton  was  no  less  inveterate  than  the  enmity 
between  the  Briton  and  the  Saxon.  The  Scot  was  one 
of  the  hereditary  ravagers  of  the  isle,  one  of  the  pagan 
worriers  against  whom  it  struggled  interminably.  All 
along  the  western  coast  his  colonies  had  made  their 
lodgements.  At  one  time  nearly  half  of  Wales  proper, 
from  St.  David's  to  Anglesey,  had  been  in  their  hands. 
They  may  even  have  seemed  likely  to  do  by  the  western 
mountaineer  as  the  Saxons  were  beginning  to  do  by  the 
lowland  citizen.  But  these  Celts  of  Hibernia  had  not 
the  Saxon  doggedness.  What  they  gained  they  lost 
again.  One  by  one  they  fell  under  Cymric  rulers, 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     229 

their  strongest  offshoot  in  Gwynedd  being  lopped  off 
bit  by  bit,  until  the  father  of  Maelgwn  completed  the 
work  by  the  storming  of  Mona.  No  doubt  this  ended 
also  the  druidic  revival  in  that  island. 

But  Aedan  was  a  convert,  and  a  very  efficient  soldier 
of  the  faith.  St.  Columba  had  taken  notice  of  him, 
and  marked  him  for  high  honor.  According  to  the 
saint's  account,  this  was  the  inspiration  and  command 
of  an  angel.  Perhaps  we  should  substitute  the  term 
"  illusion"  now.  But  whatever  the  warrant,  the  conse- 
cration followed  quickly.  One  year  after  Aedan's  first 
great  battle,  the  holy  hands  of  Columba  gave  him  a 
special  prestige  among  the  princes  of  Christendom, 
He  became,  for  a  time,  the  Dux  Bellorum  or  Guledig 
of  the  northern  country. 

The  first  result  was  a  military  outburst  of  zeaL  In 
battle  after  battle  the  Scots  and  Cymry  whom  he  led 
won  back  all,  and  more  than  all,  that  had  been  lost  at 
Catraeth.  A  series  of  campaigns,  filling  the  interval 
between  A.D.  580  and  590,  gave  them  the  region  along 
the  southern  shore  of  the  Forth  to  its  great  estuary. 

Yet  almost  at  the  same  time  the  Bernician  ruler  had 
made  good  his  losses  over  and  again  by  annexing  all 
Dqira.  Thenceforward  these  united  Saxon  powers 
were  called  Northumbria,  a  strong  new  kingdom  ex- 
tending along  the  eastern  coast  from  the  Forth  to  the 
Humber;  and  inland  over  the  water-shed  of  Britain. 

20 


230     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

Before  long  this  conqueror  died,  and  Ethelfrith,  his 
son,  took  up  the  work,  marching  northward  with  an 
army.  Aedan  met  him  beside  the  Liddel,  where  their 
boundary  had  been  made  real  by  a  strong  wall  known 
as  the  Cattrail.  An  obstinate  battle  followed.  One 
part  of  the  Northumbrian  army  was  cut  to  pieces,  but 
the  remainder  held  firm  and  routed  their  enemy  at  the 
last.  Aedan  could  not  recover  this  defeat.  His  leader- 
ship ended.  The  supremacy  of  Dalraida  was  post- 
poned for  many  generations. 

But  there  was  work  yet  for  Ethelfrith  in  Deira, 
where  malcontents  were  kept  astir  by  the  neighborhood 
of  the  exiled  princes  of  their  old  royal  line.  One  of 
these  had  crossed  into  Mercia,  that  midland  kingdom 
which  was  founded  we  hardly  know  how.  The  other 
took  refuge  at  first  in  a  tongue  of  British  territory, 
jutting  far  out  from  the  main  body  of  Wales  into  the 
heart  of  Yorkshire.  This  was  El  met,  a  rugged  little 
kingdom  with  a  savage  king.  Leaving  his  son  Hereric 
in  that  den, — perforce  it  may  be, — the  prince  of  Deira 
sought  the  court  of  Powys.  After  him  followed  the 
attack  of  Ethelfrith. 

Brochwel  was  aging  now.  A  generation  had  all 
but  gone  by  since  he  flung  the  conquering  Ceawlin,,in 
the  height  of  his  power,  back  from  the  Vale  Royal  to 
the  valley  of  death.  But  men  remembered,  and  he 
was  still  "  the  lord  of  fame."  The  king  of  Northum- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     231 

bria  may  have  been  the  only  Saxon  living  who  would 
dare  measure  arms  with  him.  At  lea$t  Mercia  and  its 
overlords  had  forborne  any  serious  aggression.  Wes- 
sex  was  reorganized  under  a  king  of  his  choosing.  The 
other  Teutonic  fragments  were  mere  dependencies  or 
too  far  away. 

Caer-ligion,  his  capital — the  Deva  of  Roman  times 
— had  a  notable  share  in  this  prestige.  Its  earlier  re- 
finement and  splendor  no  doubt  had  nearly  passed 
away.  But  it  had  been  a  place  of  refuge  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  it  was  so  still.  Unlike  Uriconium,  Veru- 
lam,  and  Calleva,  it  was  in  its  origin  a  fortified,  a 
notably  fortified,  city.  Whatever  of  civilization  re- 
mained in  the  western  land  must  have  centred  there. 
To  this  Chester  hurried  the  fugitives  from  the  wreck 
of  the  cities  by  the  Severn,  with  whatsoever  they  could 
bear  away.  In  this  Chester  gathered  all  who  had  felt 
the  approach  of  danger  along  the  Ribble,  the  Mersey, 
or  the  Dee.  Even  outside  its  walls  a  great  monastery 
had  grown  up  under  its  protection,  feeling  safe.  The 
men  of  religion  did  not  forget  the  town  of  shelter  in 
the  hour  of  its  need.  When  the  spoiler  came,  there 
were  a  thousand  monks  of  Bangor  on  the  field,  raising 
their  weaponless  hands  and  imploring  voices  to  the 
Lord  God  of  Sabaoth.  But  they  won  no  answer,  ex- 
cept that  of  the  merciless  heathen  steel.  The  aged 
king  had  fled  already,  making  a  most  inglorious  end 


232     THE  TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

of  a  glorious  reign.  The  British  army,  king-forsaken 
and  God-forsaken,  fought  on  vehemently,  as  the  great 
losses  of  the  conqueror  testify.  But  the  waves  of  utter 
ruin  passed  over  their  city.  Two  hundred  years  later 
the  Danes  took  post  behind  the  broken  walls,  but  only 
as  men  beset  might  stand  at  bay  among  the  fragments 
of  Uxmal  or  Palmyra.  There  was  never  again  a  com- 
plete massacre  and  sack  of  a  great  British  city,  but  not 
even  at  Anderida  can  the  frightful  work  have  been 
done  more  thoroughly.  And  now  at  last  the  dominion 
of  the  Northern  Saxon  extended  quite  across  the  island 
from  sea  to  sea. 

This  brings  us  to  the  end,  if  not  a  little  beyond  it, 
of  the  two  centuries  which  I  have  designated  as  "  lost" 
from  the  history  of  Britain.  But  the  word  has  been 
growing  less  applicable,  our  knowledge  becoming  less 
conjectural,  the  darkness  brightening  continually 
through  twilight  towards  day. 

The  attitude  of  both  races  in  every  way  was  chang- 
ing. Apart  from  the  spreading  influence  of  Christi- 
anity, there  were  reasons  why  this  should  be.  Sixty 
years  before,  the  Saxons  held  by  a  doubtful  tenure  only 
the  mere  fringe  of  the  ocean.  This  they  had  been  col- 
onizing from  of  old,  or  had  won  bit  by  bit,  in  circum- 
stances which  made  the  Briton  who  remained  among 
them  a  serf,  an  apostate,  or,  at  best,  a  woodland  outlaw. 

In  the  great  body  of  the  island  this  could  not  be. 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     233 

The  splendid  resistance  of  Ambrose,  the  long  series  of 
Arthur's  victories  over  their  greatest  leaders,  had  taught 
the  Saxons  more  than  respect,  if  less  than  fear.  When 
at  last  their  great  enemy  was  no  more  and  their  war- 
riors were  pouring  into  the  island,  by  every  gate- way,  a 
sense  of  insecurity,  of  unreality,  must  have  haunted 
them.  The  land  which  had  bred  an  Arthur  might 
breed  one  even  greater  than  he.  Prophecies  were 
abroad  already,  pointing  to  such  a  deliverer.  Later 
times  found,  or  fancied,  their  fulfilment,  in  the  brief 
outflaring  of  the  glory  of  Cadwallon. 

But,  however  this  might  be,  Arthur's  old  soldiers 
and  their  sons  were  to  be  met  with  everywhere.  One 
of  his  lieutenants,  if  we  read  the  name  aright,  had 
faced  the  Saxons  to  the  death  on  the  field  of  Deorham ; 
another  had  all  but  overcome  their  northern  forces 
along  the  Bernician  border,  matching  the  terror  of  his 
name  against  that  of  the  Flame-bearer  himself;  a  third, 
with  all  his  house,  had  fought  the  Deirans  at  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Llawen  and  the  Ford  of  Morlas,  and  had 
held  Uriconium  against  Ceawlin  until  Cyndylan  came 
rushing  down  to  his  doom  from  the  "  bright  fort"  of 
Dinnle  Wrecon. 

The  Saxons  had  won,  but  in  great  masses  of  territory, 
whence  only  a  part  of  the  fighting  population  would 
or  could  remove,  and  that  population  was  dominated 
by  the  spirit  of  the  great  dead.  Perilous  neighbors 

20* 


234     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

these,  unless  under  some  convention  for  living  side  by 
side  in  amity.  The  conqueror,  who  could  neither 
ignore  the  Celt  nor  make  an  end  of  him,  and  who  soon 
had  desperate  warfare  with  his  own  kin,  ended  by  ac- 
cepting him  as  a  brother  in  arms.  The  Celt,  for  his 
part,  was  very  willing  to  attack  or  resist  any  Saxon, 
even  with  Saxons  for  fellow-soldiers  and  allies.  In 
time  local  feeling  would  draw  together  more  closely 
those  of  the  two  races  who  dwelt  near.  From  this 
enlistment  of  subject  Britons  it  was  no  great  step  to 
calling  in  the  aid  of  some  independent  British  kingdom. 

Among  the  Saxons,  a  change,  incident  to  growth, 
was  taking  place.  A  multitude  of  wrangling  tribes 
and  petty  sovereignties  were  grouping  themselves,  in 
shifting  allegiance,  under  two  or  three  main  heads. 
First,  Ethelbert  of  Kent  was  the  nominal  overlord 
of  everything  south  of  the  Humber.  Then  Raed- 
wald  of  East  Anglia  took  his  place,  leaving  Ethelbert 
very  little  besides  the  Caint  and  the  dependencies  of 
London.  But  Ethelfrith  of  Northumbria  challenged 
this  supremacy,  in  particular  demanding  the  extradition 
of  Eadwine,  prince  of  Deira,  who  had  passed  from 
Mercia  to  the  court  of  Raedwald.  The  armies  clashed 
together  on  the  banks  of  the  Idle,  which  "  ran  red" 
with  the  slaughter  of  Englishmen,  and  there  was  an 
end  of  Ethelfrith  and  his  pretensions  forever. 

Now,  for  a  time,  the  land  was  more  nearly  one  than 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     235 

it  ever  afterwards  became  during  centuries.  Eadwine, 
the  exile,  set  up  the  "  Empire  of  the  English" 
with  its  capital  at  York,  whence  Rome  had  ruled  the 
island.  Every  Saxon  state  obeyed  him,  excepting 
Kent,  and  that  had  only  its  earlier  boundaries.  A 
standard  of  purple  and  gold  was  borne  before  him  as 
he  rode;  a  tufted  spear,  the  Roman  tufa,  when  he 
walked  the  streets.  His  wide  power  was  exercised 
well  and  wisely.  It  was  the  boast  of  Englishmen  long 
afterwards  that  "  a  woman  with  her  child  might  walk 
scathless  from  sea  to  sea  in  King  Ead  wine's  day."  But 
his  was  a  fruit  ripening  too  early.  It  lasted  only  until 
a  stronger  than  he  arose  in  Mercia  and  overthrew  him 
by  British  aid. 

For  the  strength  of  Celtic  Britain  was  not  wholly 
gone.  Three  considerable  Roman  cities  yet  remained 
in  native  hands, — the  Damnonian  Isca  (Exeter),  Caer- 
leon  upon  Usk,  and  that  Luguballium,  or  Caer  Luilid, 
which  we  know  as  Carlisle.  There  were  others  of 
lesser  note.  With  each  of  that  trio  went  a  strong 
British  kingdom,  cut  off  (by  land)  from  its  fellows, 
but  still  formidable. 

The  central  mass,  Wales  proper,  was  able  to  retort 
invasion  for  invasion  within  a  few  years  after  Caer 
Ligion's  downfall.  Under  Cynan  (Conan),  as  Dr. 
Guest  supposes,  the  Welsh  army  penetrated  to  Bamp- 
ton  in  Oxfordshire,  where  an  indecisive  battle  was 


236     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

fought,  with  heavy  losses.  According  to  Henry  of 
Huntington,  the  Roman  formation  and  tactics  once 
more  made  their  appearance  in  the  field.  But  his  nar- 
rative has  a  very  fanciful  air.  As  to  the  fact  and 
seriousness  of  the  engagement  all  are  agreed. 

The  northern  kingdom  of  Strathclyde  maintained  its 
independence  for  about  four  hundred  years,  with  one 
brief  interval  of  submission.  To  its  Roman  legacy, 
Carlisle,  by  the  southern  wall,  Dr.  Freeman  awards 
the  distinction  of  being  the  only  city  in  Britain  which 
was  taken  by  the  Saxon,  yet  became  British  again. 
Yet  Alcluyd  (Dumbarton)  soon  became  the  capital,  out- 
shining the  elder  town  in  both  Celtic  and  Saxon  eyes* 
Bede  alludes  to  it  contemporaneously  as  "  the  strong 
city  of  the  Britons."  Even  so  late  as  Geoffrey  of 
Monmouth,  it  was  the  one  chiefly  remembered. 

The  country  between  them,  "  the  ancient  diocese  of 
Glasgow/'  is  believed  by  a  writer  in  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  to  have  been  "the  cradle  of  the  Welsh 
language  and  literature."  That  it  added  greatly  to 
Cymric  poetry  is  beyond  dispute.  But  in  the  eminently 
active  life  of  warfare  the  energies  of  the  region  found 
a  more  adequate  outlet.  The  heroic  element  runs 
through  all  that  comes  to  us,  by  record  or  tradition,  of 
the  isolated  yet  indomitable  soldiery  between  the  walls. 
It  was  clearly  the  conjunction  of  Strathclyde  and  Wales 
with  the  Mercian  forces  which  made  Penda  and  Cad- 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     237 

wallon  dominant  for  a  time  in  Northern  Britain. 
Probably  Dynaint,  by  reason  of  distance,  rendered  no 
aid.  In  the  beginning  this  was  perhaps  the  most 
powerful  and  cultured  of  the  remaining  Celtic  states, 
and  it  long  remained  under  illustrious  protection  and 
leadership.  Yet  it  never  seems  to  have  shown  the 
aggressive  enterprise  of  mid- Wales  or  Strathclyde. 
The  reason  may  have  been  that  it  had  only  one  neigh- 
bor— Wessex — and  no  opportunity  for  alliance  and 
combination,  while  there  was  little  hope  in  any  single- 
handed  assault. 

Its  people  maintained  their  own  boundaries  well; 
few  better.  The  Saxon  has  never  shown  a  more 
dogged  front  to  misfortune.  The  history  of  their  long 
isolated  struggle  can  never  be  written  ;  but  the  land- 
marks which  we  have,  by  way  of  date,  are  enough  to 
stir  the  blood.  A  hundred  and  seventy  years  after  the 
death  of  Arthur — a  hundred  and  forty  after  the  sever- 
ance from  the  rest  of  Britain — the  king  of  Dynaint  is 
still  "  the  glorious  lord  of  the  western  realm,"  even  in 
the  mouths  of  his  enemies.  Three-fourths  of  another 
century  went  by  before  the  men  of  Wessex  could  push 
their  frontier  to  the  Tamar.  And  Cornish  indepen- 
dence did  not  finally  come  to  an  end  until  A.D.  815, 
three  centuries  and  a  half  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Saxon-British  wars.  The  Celts  of  Damnonia  won  the 
best  that  could  he  hoped  for,  protracting  their  resistance 


238     THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN. 

until  subjection  had  no  dreadful  meaning.  Fairly  good 
terms  were  undoubtedly  granted. 

But  whether  at  the  north  or  at  the  south,  it  was  the 
fight  of  a  doomed  people.  The  pressure  of  the  more 
powerful  Saxons  was  upon  them,  and  never  relaxed  for 
long.  We  see  in  the  Cymric  literature  that  they  often 
felt  what  now  we  know.  Old  prophecies  were  fever- 
ishly astir  to  keep  alive  the  courage  of  the  people.  The 
red  dragon  (cried  the  bards)  would  yet  rally  and  drive 
out  the  white ;  Leminitz,  the  mighty,  would  appear  and 
end  the  rule  of  the  invader.  Nor  were  the  clergy  more 
backward.  The  chastisement  of  Britain  had  been  per- 
mitted for  her  sins,  and  for  them  only,  they  thundered. 
Let  her  people  turn  to  the  ways  of  righteousness,  and 
the  Lord  God  would  come  marvellously  to  their  aid. 

Now  and  again,  as  in  the  days  of  Ambrose,  of  Arthur, 
and  of  Cadwallon,  it  must  have  seemed  that  the  hour 
of  deliverance  indeed  had  come.  But  such  hopes  had 
always  a  disastrous  end,  and  the  sense  of  loss,  which 
was  less  illusionary,  was  also  more  abiding.  It  is  to 
be  recognized  in  the  deep  underlying  pathos  of  all  the 
old  Welsh  poetry.  Even  the  vauntings  of  war  and 
revelry  strike  one  as  the  enforced  distraction  of  a  soul 
which  will  not  brood ;  the  desperate  effort  of  a  high- 
spirited  race  to  catch  some  wild  side-gleams  of  bright- 
ness in  following  the  black  path  to  ruin. 

There  is  one  old  poem,  translated  (excepting  a  single 


THE   TWO  LOST  CENTURIES  OF  BRITAIN.     239 

word)  by  Mr.  Skene,  wherein  we  have  the  bereavement 
of  the  land  set  forth  very  simply  and  quaintly,  but  with 
so  much  of  the  essential  spirit  of  the  Cymric  people 
that  I  cannot  do  better  than  make  its  ending  my  own. 
The  bard  addresses  his  hound  Dormach,  "truly  the 
best  of  dogs,  which  belonged  to  Maelgwn :" 

"  Dormach  with  the  ruddy  nose.     What  a  gazer 
Thou  art  upon  me  !     Because  I  notice 
Thy  wanderings  on  Gwibir  Yynyd 1" 

And  the  dog  replies  : 

"  I  have  been  in  the  place  where  was  killed  Gwendolew, 
The  son  of  Ceidaw,  the  pillar  of  songs, 
"Where  the  ravens  screamed  over  blood. 

"  I  have  been  in  the  place  where  Bran  was  killed, 
The  son  of  Gwenyd  of  far-extending  fame, 
Where  the  ravens  of  the  battle-field  screamed. 

"  I  have  been  where  Llachaw  was  slain, 
The  son  of  Arthur  extolled  in  songs, 
Where  the  ravens  screamed  over  blood. 

"  I  have  been  where  the  soldiers  of  Britain  were  slain, 
Prom  the  East  to  the  North. 
I  am  alive,  they  in  their  graves  I 

"  I  have  been  where  the  soldiers  of  Britain  were  slain, 
From  the  East  to  the  South. 
Jam  alive,  they  in  death I" 

THE   END. 
PRINTED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAY! 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(415)  642-6753 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  book: 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  day; 

prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


EC  25 1990 


AN    11991$ 


y  15 

ID 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERKELEY 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


